A vet and mental health researcher has launched a new study that aims to shed fresh light on factors that may affect the risk of suicide within the sector.

Clinicians and students – both with and without experience of suicidal thinking – are being invited to participate in the study by University of Glasgow PhD student James Glass.

Mr Glass himself left clinical practice five years ago following his own period of severe mental ill health and shared his story with Vet Times at the time in a bid to help others. Since then, he completed a master’s degree in neuroscience and psychology of mental health at King’s College London in 2022.

Second phase

Mr Glass hopes his current work, which represents the second phase of a longer-term project, will both identify risk and protective factors influencing suicidal thinking and action, as well as heralding the development of new interventions to support people at risk.

He said: “We hope it will be something that makes a difference to the way we approach things. We want it to be effective.”

The survey will remain active until the end of this year and is open to both vets and veterinary nurses, as well as students entering both professions.

Mr Glass stressed the survey, which is expected to take around 15 minutes to complete, is entirely anonymous and confidential, while participants will also be offered the chance to give their contact details to access its results and take part in future interview-based research.

Expansion

As well as being UK-focused, work has already taken place to expand it to professionals in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Glass explained that while most research to this point has focused on vets, current understanding of the problem is based on data that is up to 20 years old, while little work to date has examined the factors affecting either nurses, students or technicians.

He said he was concerned that at least some conversations on the issue might not help people who are struggling, despite the significant increase in mental health awareness within the sector.

And he argued that, while a range of explanations have been offered, a clearer picture of the current situation is needed – particularly given the scale of change the sector has experienced in recent years and the efforts being made by a range of organisations to address the issue.

‘Multi-factorial and complex’

Mr Glass said: “We’ve heard a lot recently about client aggression; complaints. What brings someone to suicidal thinking – or indeed a suicide attempt – is nearly always multi-factorial and complex, and that’s why we’d like to get more up to date evidence.

“We need to know what’s actually happening at the coal face. If we are seeking to address some of those concerns and we’re still having relatively high levels of mental ill health and we’re still having quite high levels of suicide or suicidal thinking then we need to actually work out why is that happening. We need that evidence base to make sure we’re considering and changing what matters.”

The survey can be accessed until 31 December via a dedicated page on the University of Glasgow website.