Vets described using podcasts, audio books and music as a distraction to take their minds off work and to manage their mood after negative outcomes on farms. This page has links to a sample of podcasts and music by way of illustration. Suggestions of relevant literature have been included in the Further Reading section toward the foot of this page.

Podcasts

The Naked Vet, Julian Norton

“Following in the footsteps of James Herriot, Julian has become famous in North Yorkshire, beyond Thirsk, the Dales and the moors because of his role in the Channel 5 hit series The Yorkshire Vet and through the books he has written, as he tends to all the creatures great and small. Here, you can listen to Julian and his friend, stand up poet Kate Fox, talk about animals, The Yorkshire Vet TV series and answer weird and wonderful questions about being a vet. If you love animals and don't mind a bit of blood and gore, this is the podcast for you.”

Cody Creelman, Cow Vet

“Veterinarian and vlogger, Cody Creelman, dives deep into the topics he's passionate about.”

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, Devon Farm Vet

“Jules Hudson shadows a large animal vet in Devon to find out how, as farms have changed and grown, their role has changed also.”

Available from the BBC

The Book Grubs: All Creatures Great and Small

“About the Podcast: A book club that meets over facebook, instagram and podcast. Come join us once a month with a cup of tea while we discuss a book! Andrew and Amberlynne Claussen have been married since 2006 and want to share their love of books. They currently live in the Pacific Northwest have 2 kittens, 1 dog and a yard full of free range children.”

Available from the podcast website

TED Talks Daily

Music

Vets spoke about using music to help distract, soothe, or cheer themselves up, e.g. “I tend to listen to music, you know, stick on some music, ideally something that I can sing along to” .

As the choice of music is very personal, there are no ‘definitive’ playlists for helping livestock vets to cope. The playlists below have been compiled by way of illustration, inspired by what vets spoke about.

If you’re on Twitter and would like to suggest other songs and playlists, please use #howfarmvetscope @MindSruc.

Further Reading

The links below provide some further academic reading on some of the topics investigated within the project.

Farm Vet Literature

• Charles, D. (2020). Considering your wellbeing needs in practice. Livestock, 25(4), 184–186.
• Adam, K., Baillie, S., & Rushton, J. (2015). Retaining vets in farm animal practice: Across-sectional study. Veterinary Record.
• Adam, K. E., Baillie, S., & Rushton, J. (2018). “Clients. Outdoors. Animals.”: retaining vets in UK farm animal practice-thematic analysis of free-text survey responses. The Veterinary Record.
• Atkinson, O. (2010a). Communication in farm animal practice 1. Farmer-vet relationships. In Practice, 32(3), 114–117.
• Atkinson, O. (2010b). Communication in farm animal practice 2. Effecting change. In Practice, 32(4), 163–165.
• Verrinder, J. M., Ostini, R., & Phillips, C. J. C. (2019). Assessing veterinary students’ Ethical sensitivity to farm animal welfare issues. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, 46(3), 302–339.
• Hamilton, L., (2013). The magic of mundane objects: Culture, identity and power in a country vets' practice. The Sociological Review, 61(2), pp.265-284.

Other veterinary related literature

• Bartram, D., & Boniwell, I. (2007). The science of happiness: Achieving sustained psychological wellbeing. In Practice, 29(8), 478–482.
• Hamilton, N. D. (2016). LEARNING TO COPE WITH BEING A VETERINARIAN i A PSYCHO-EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR VETERINARY PRACTITIONERS: LEARNING TO COPE WITH BEING A VETERINARIAN.
• Lovell, B. L., & Lee, R. T. (2013). Burnout and health promotion in veterinary medicine. Canadian Veterinary Journal, 54(8), 790–791.
• Stoewen, D. L. (2015). Suicide in veterinary medicine: Let’s talk about it. The Canadian Veterinary Journal. Can Vet J., 56(January 56(1)), 89–92.
• White, S. C. (2018). Veterinarians’ emotional reactions and coping strategies for adverse events in spay-neuter surgical practice. Anthrozoös, 31(1), 117-131.
• Lloyd, C., & Campion, D. P. (2017). Occupational stress and the importance of self-care and resilience: focus on veterinary nursing. Irish veterinary journal, 70(1), 30.
• Cake, M. A., McArthur, M. M., Matthew, S. M., & Mansfield, C. F. (2017). Finding the balance: uncovering resilience in the veterinary literature. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, 44(1), 95-105.
• Adebowale, O. O., Fasanmi, O. G., Awosile, B., Afolabi, M. O., & Fasina, F. O. (2020). Systematic review and meta-analysis of veterinary-related occupational exposures to hazards. medRxiv.

Farmer Mental Health

• Parry, J., Lindsey, R., & Taylor, R. (2005). Farmers, farm workers and work-related stress. Policy.
• Thomas, H. V, Sillis, M., Softley, P., Lewis, G., Thomas, D. R., Salmon, R. L., … Meadows, D. (2003). Mental health of British farmers. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 60(3), 181–186.

Mood Management

• Stewart, J., Garrido, S., Hense, C., & McFerran, K. (2019). Music use for mood regulation: self-awareness and conscious listening choices in young people with tendencies to depression. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 1199.
• Suwabe, K., Hyodo, K., Fukuie, T., Ochi, G., Inagaki, K., Sakairi, Y., & Soya, H. (2020). Positive Mood while Exercising Influences Beneficial Effects of Exercise with Music on Prefrontal Executive Function: A Functional NIRS Study. Neuroscience.
• Völker, J. (2019). Personalising music for more effective mood induction: Exploring activation, underlying mechanisms, emotional intelligence, and motives in mood regulation. Musicae Scientiae, 1029864919876315.
• Bernstein, E. E., & McNally, R. J. (2018). Exercise as a buffer against difficulties with emotion regulation: A pathway to emotional wellbeing. Behaviour research and therapy, 109, 29-36.