Using a Positive Psychology Lens to Understand How Veterinary Medicine Learning Contexts Promote Student Thriving and...

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medical Education
• Positive Psychology
• Student Well-being

Background:

• Traditional approaches to veterinary student well-being focus on individual coping mechanisms.
• A gap exists in understanding the impact of the institutional social climate on student outcomes.
• This study explores a positive psychology model emphasizing social context for student thriving.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test a model where the social climate predicts veterinary student thriving and burnout.
• To examine the mediating roles of psychological need satisfaction and frustration.
• To identify key factors in the social environment that promote positive student outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Survey administered to 202 veterinary medical students across the United States.
• Structural equation modeling used to analyze relationships between social climate, psychological needs, and student outcomes.
• Measured psychological need satisfaction/frustration, hope, life satisfaction, and burnout.

Main Results:

• Positive social climate perceptions significantly predicted psychological need satisfaction (R² = .44) and negatively predicted frustration (R² = .34).
• The social climate positively predicted hope (R² = .67) and life satisfaction (R² = .51), and negatively predicted burnout (R² = .87).
• Perceptions of the institutional social climate were a ubiquitous predictor across all measured variables.

Conclusions:

• The social climate within veterinary institutions, including peer, faculty, and staff interactions, is vital for student thriving.
• Fostering supportive learning environments that satisfy basic psychological needs (competence, autonomy, relatedness) is key to mitigating burnout.
• Veterinary medical colleges should leverage principles of self-determination theory to cultivate a culture of support for enhanced student well-being.