April 13, 2013

Mindfulness Training Improves Attention and Reduces Rumination in Veterinary Medicine Students

Patricia M. Dowling DVM, MSc — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 09:00:00 PDT

A veterinary medical curriculum causes significant stress in students. Stressors that continue into veterinary practice include long work hours, lack of control over workload, emergencies, unexpected deaths, euthanasia, client grief, compassion fatigue, treatment failure, surgical challenges, difficult clients, interpersonal conflicts, and medical errors. These stressors put both veterinary students and practitioners at high risk for mental, physical and emotional fatigue, substance abuse and an increased risk of suicide compared to other health care professionals and the general population. We developed the Mindful Veterinary Practice (MVP) elective for third year veterinary students, based on the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and the Mindful Practice programs. We examined the hypothesis that mindfulness training enhances specific aspects of attentional functioning, as well as self-reported mood and trait-level mindfulness. We examined three functionally and neuroantomically distinct but overlapping attentional subsystems: alerting, orienting, and conflict monitoring by performance on the Attention Network Test (ANT). The mindfulness training group (N=17) participated in the 7-week MVP elective. Another group of students in the same academic cohort who received no training served as the control group (N=16). Groups were compared before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) delivery of the MVP course. At Time 1, the MVP and Control groups did not differ in any of our measures of interest. At Time 2, participants in the MVP but not the Control group demonstrated significantly improved conflict monitoring on the ANT and self-reported trait mindfulness, as well as reduced rumination. These results suggest that mindfulness training for veterinary students may help protect against attentional-lapses in their medical practice and protect against emotional states that may lead to burnout during their highly stressful professional training.

Every Pet Comes With A Person: Behavioral Care For The Entire Family

Jeannine Moga et al. — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 10:00:00 PDT

Unresolved behavior issues are one of the leading causes of animal surrender and subsequent euthanasia. Successful identification and treatment of behavior problems requires analysis and support of the whole system rather than an approach that focuses solely on the pet or the problem itself. This workshop will present a collaborative model for treating troubled pets within the families that often unwittingly trigger and maintain behavior challenges. Using a case-based approach, the presenters will provide a model for how veterinarians and mental health professionals can work together to maximize treatment outcomes, support stressed clients, and provide “wrap around” service with the pet as the nucleus.

Objectives:

1) To expand the scope of inquiry to better understand the human components of animal behavior problems

2) To identify the most common issues influencing owner capacity to understand behavior issues and comply with treatment recommendations

3) To provide a model for how veterinarians addressing behavior issues can partner with, and refer to, social services professionals and community resources

4) To review the unique dynamics that make evaluating and treating animal behavior problems challenging for clinicians, allied professionals, and families, and recommend resources critical to supporting families and their pets

Safe Haven Conundrum: The Use of Special Bailments to Keep Pets Out of Violent Households

Joan M. Heminway et al. — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 09:00:00 PDT

Family violence is a continuing social problem that seems to breed new complexity at every turn. Just as we seem to get a modicum of control over the sheltering of at-risk mothers and children, we find that family pets—dependent creatures endangered by the same violent behavior that threatens their human caretakers—often are left unprotected (or under-protected) by both law and society. In most cases, companion animals are unable to be sheltered with human victims of domestic violence due to shelter restrictions, which means (among other things) that human victims face difficult choices (potentially involving both human and nonhuman animal dependents) in leaving and returning to their violent households.

Animal safe haven programs have stepped up to serve some of this unmet need. These programs agree to take in the cats, dogs, and (in some cases) other companion animals of domestic violence victims (typically, but not always, women) who decide to seek refuge in a shelter. This solution is not without problems, however. Pets are separated from their owners at the very time they may need each other most. Moreover, safe havens typically only offer temporary care to animals, and the time limits on these arrangements may not mesh well with the transitioning of women and other victims to new, independent housing situations after their shelter stays are over. Finally, a victim may decide to return to the abusive household and take the animal with her, subjecting the animal, as well as herself, to renewed abuse.

This paper ultimately addresses the last of these three identified weaknesses of safe haven programs and suggests a solution rooted in traditional notions of property and contract law and consistent with related public policy. In the process of doing so, however, the article panoramically describes the overall societal and legal context in which the issue arises. This background is important to many social and legal issues involving nonhuman animals, not just the protection of animals threatened by violent households.

Critical Lens-Power Structure in Animal-Assisted Therapy

Ping-Tzu Lee — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 09:00:00 PDT

Abstract

This article is about my journey in animal-assisted therapy (AAT). I use the critical paradigm to explore how AAT is positioned within the institution, scholarship, and mental health practice as well as the role of language and gender. Through this exploration, I have become more aware of who I am in this academic setting and social structure. The purpose of this study is to help raise the awareness of educators and practitioners regarding academic and mental health practice and the role that each member of the mental health profession plays – consciously or unconsciously – in oppressing the practice of AAT. The more mental health professionals are aware of how they are molded by society and the institution of mental health practice, the more they can take action to make a change toward more equitable, effective practice.

‘Animal sentience and its implications for human-animal interaction – concepts for animal professionals’

Katherine E J van Ekert Ms — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 10:00:00 PDT

Research investigating animal consciousness and mental states, and the recent Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, have provided invaluable support to what many of us have always known. Animals are sentient beings, and like us, have the ability to perceive and feel, and therefore the ability to experience pleasure and pain. The implication of our recognition of animal sentience is interesting to consider in the context of human animal interactions. Of significance, is whether our current laws regarding animals, our codes of practice, and industry standards, would suffice if they were written with a full understanding and consideration of animal sentience. As professionals working in animal-related fields, this recognition of sentience can also place us with an often uncomfortable responsibility. As society places increasing value on animal welfare, it will be up to animal professions to maintain our standard as safeguards of animals’ best interests. We will be increasingly forced to consider factors other than those raised by the prevailing pressures of commercialism and utilitarianism; factors arising from the animal itself and his or her welfare needs. These decisions must be based on scientific evidence. But one must also be prepared to previous assumptions in this dynamic field, and work within an ethical framework that guides our decisions when the science lets us down by not answering our questions, or by providing us with answers that appear inconsistent. Our treatment of animals through actions that reflect their innate value, can only but enhance our humanity and our treatment of each other, as we learn to nurture that trait so highly revered in our own species: empathy.

Supporting Clients’ Ability to Navigate the Ethics Surrounding the Treatment of Cancer in Animals

Debbie Stoewen — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 09:00:00 PDT

Supporting clients’ ability to navigate the ethics surrounding the treatment of cancer in animals

As a society, our relationship with animals has evolved, with companion animals today often esteemed as valued members of the family. With the human-animal bond shown to correlate with the quality of veterinary health care sought,¹ demands for improved veterinary health care over the past three decades have challenged the profession to provide ever-increasing levels of sophistication in medical services.^{2, 3} This has resulted in the development of specialty fields of practice,⁴ such as veterinary oncology, to provide comprehensive, state-of-the art care. Oncological treatment modalities have evolved to include what are now considered traditional in veterinary cancer intervention: surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy.

Despite these societal-driven advancements, attitudes towards the treatment of cancer in animals vary, as identified in recent qualitative and quantitative studies.⁵ For clients, this creates substantial psychological dissonance as they attempt to care for their pet while pushing against a current of spoken and unspoken criticism and judgment. Such dissonance is an added burden for clients already traumatized by the diagnosis of a serious, life-threatening cancer. As social workers, it raises the imperative to be aware of this phenomenon – sourced from contradictory ethics on the treatment of cancer in animals – and support clients’ ability to successfully navigate the cancer journey while being cognizant of one’s own attitudes. Diverse societal mindsets concerning resources, the human-animal bond, and animal welfare challenge the larger ethics that define the limits of intervention.

Lue TW, Pantenburg DP, Crawford PM. Impact of the owner-pet and client-veterinarian bond on the care that pets receive. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2008;232:531-540.
Dennis JS. Referrals: What, where, and why. Vet Med 1997;92.:954-961.
Villalobos, A. (with Kaplan L). Canine and Feline Oncology: Honoring the Human-Animal Bond. Ames, Iowa: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.
Rollin BE. The use and abuse of Aesculapian authority in veterinary medicine. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2002;220:1144-1149.
Stoewen DS. Clients’ Service Expectations and Practitioners’ Treatment Recommendations in Veterinary Oncology. PhD Thesis, 2012.

Making it Safer for People and their Pets

Lynn Loar — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 10:00:00 PDT

How do you determine in a constrained—and strained—home visit of 30 minutes or so whether children are safe in the home? The severity of domestic violence? The adequacy of care for a dependent adult or frail elder? How do you pinpoint the area(s) of greatest risk, design an easy, effective and affordable intervention to lessen risk and improve family ties and persuade the family to give it a try?

This workshop will show how asking a few questions about the family pet will

Build a collaborative relationship with clients
Elicit candid and accurate information about worrisome behaviors and impulsivity on which risk assessments can be based
Point to targeted interventions that will immediately lessen risk and have the potential to make lasting change.

The workshop will focus on the safety of all living beings in the home, assessing risk of abuse and neglect involving animals, children, abuse-reactive and perpetrating children and youth, domestic violence, dependent adult and elder abuse and neglect. Using Barbara Boat’s Inventory on Animal-Related Experiences and Lynn Loar’s Know Your Buttons worksheet, participants will be able to establish rapport with vulnerable clients, collaborately identify areas of greatest risk and target interventions accordingly.

Impact of euthanasia on the healthcare team

Kate Knutson — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 10:00:00 PDT

Euthanasia is well accepted as a humane form of relief from protracted suffering in our companion animals. Yet the toll it places on the health care team providing the service has not been well studied. Veterinarians are four times more likely than the general population to commit suicide than the general public. They are two times more likely to commit suicide than any of the other medical professions. What does the impact of performing euthanasia have to do with this statistic, if any? If euthanasia is contributing to the increased incidence of suicide in the veterinary profession can the procedure be done in a manner that promotes compassion for pets, yet protects the healthcare population from burnout and fatigue?