Enhancing Laboratory Animal Welfare through Motivational Training of Facility Personnel: A One Welfare Approach

Measuring the effect of laboratory animal facilities employees' motivational training on laboratory animal welfare is essential to study the impact of the human factor on experimental results. To test this, 15 volunteers were initially recruited, with 14 completing the motivational training, and its impact on animal welfare was evaluated in 174 Swiss mice, specifically primiparous pregnant females. The mice were grouped into a control group (n = 90), observed before the motivational training, and a treated group (n = 84), observed immediately after training. Animal welfare was assessed through various measures, including nesting ability, scored from 0 to 5, time to integrate into nest test, and maternal behavior (considering rates of maternal care such as licking/grooming and staying with the pups). Each volunteer's motivational level was evaluated using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, PERMA (positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment) Profiler, and The Authentic Happiness Inventory. The motivational training was based on Yale University's course "The Science of Well-Being," the book The How of Happiness, and "Motivation and Action." Results indicated that the methods used to assess mouse welfare might have been influenced by environmental differences at each research center, resulting in a lack of reproducibility. The motivational training effect varied across research centers, suggesting context-dependent outcomes potentially influenced by environmental or institutional factors for nesting scores and maternal behavior tests. However, no effect of motivational training was observed on the time to integrate into nest test, although facility-related differences were significant. The questionnaires revealed improvements in personnel well-being, although the effect on happiness was attenuated in one facility, indicating possible institutional barriers to intervention efficacy.