A cross-sectional study examining perceptions of discriminatory behaviors experienced and witnessed by veterinary students undertaking clinical extra-mural studies

Frontiers in Veterinary Science

Veterinary Science

Rebecca Medcalf¹  Charlotte S. McCarroll¹  Olivia S. Summers¹  Katherine A. Hubbard² 

[1] Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom;Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom;

关键词: discrimination;    veterinary;    ageism and age-based discrimination;    ableism;    racism;    sexism;    homophobia;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fvets.2023.940836

 received in 2022-05-10, accepted in 2023-03-24,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionRecent research showed that 29% of respondents in a survey of veterinary professionals reported experiencing self-described discrimination in their workplaces. Senior colleagues and clients were responsible for discriminatory behaviors. As part of their training, veterinary students are expected to undertake extra-mural study (EMS) within these same workplaces and are likely to be vulnerable to discrimination from senior colleagues and clients. This study's objectives were to identify and characterize the pattern of perceived discriminatory behaviors (i.e., belief of being treated unfairly) that veterinary students encounter while seeing practice and explore students' attitudes toward discrimination.MethodsStudents at British and Irish veterinary schools who undertook some clinical EMS completed a survey of closed and open questions as part of a cross-sectional study. Demographic data and experiences of discrimination with details of incidents and reporting were collected, alongside respondent attitudes. Quantitative data were analyzed using Pearson's chi-squared analysis to analyse respondents' characteristics and their experiences of discriminatory behaviors and subsequent reporting. Qualitative content analysis was used for open-question data.ResultsOf the 403 respondents, 36.0% had perceived behavior they believed was discriminatory. The most frequent form of discrimination was based on gender (38.0%), followed by ethnicity (15.7%). There were significant associations between respondents' experience of discriminatory behaviors and the following characteristics: age (p = 0.0096), disability (p < 0.00001), race/ethnicity (p < 0.0001), gender/sex (p = 0.018), and LGBTQ+ status (p = 0.001). Supervising veterinarians were the most commonly reported perpetrators of discriminatory behaviors (39.3%) compared with clients (36.4%). Only 13.9% of respondents who experienced discrimination reported the event(s). Respondents with a disability were the least likely to agree with the statement that professional bodies are doing enough to tackle discrimination (p < 0.0001). Most respondents agreed that sexism is still an issue (74.4%), but men were more likely to disagree (p = 0.004). Most respondents felt that ethnic diversity needed to be increased (96.3%).DiscussionDiscriminatory behavior is a problem for students seeing practice, especially those with one or more protected characteristics (as defined by the UK Equality Act 2010). Improved education would need to include perspectives from minority groups to help remove discriminatory behavior from veterinary practice.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Summers, Medcalf, Hubbard and McCarroll.