Exploring moral distress amongst veterinarians who care for poor people and their pets in multi-species communities
Date
2022-07-07
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Abstract
As a profession, veterinary medicine has ethical and legal obligations towards humankind, not just other species. Even so, investigations into medico-legal borderlands have yet to focus on veterinary expertise. This presentation centers on pop-up free clinics in a partnership between a social-service charity and a veterinary school. Social research has informed this service-learning initiative, from the outset. Most recently, our interdisciplinary team interviewed clients, social-service providers employed by the partnered charity, and qualified veterinarians who have participated as educators. The interview guides provided the foundation for an analytic matrix and team discussions. After that, with periodic input from team members and an emphasis on reflexivity, I led a thematic analysis vis-à-vis relevant scholarship, including previous publications arising from this service-learning initiative. Social-service providers indicated appreciation for the veterinary educators’ commitment to partnership. As for clients, they consistently reported feeling respected and valued at the pop-up free clinic, and they spoke of their pets as family members. Some clients registered concern about the veterinary-service barriers faced by poor people. The veterinarians, meanwhile, expressed profound angst and sorrow, consistent with a concept called “moral distress.” Social researchers, along with social-service providers and policy professionals, should pay more attention to moral distress amongst veterinary-service providers as a social problem. Only then might multi-species publics might become powerful enough to redress the root causes of the ethical quandaries and questioning that can arise from caring for marginalized multi-species families.
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Keywords
One-Health Promotion, Veterinary Medicine
Citation
Rock, M. J., Baker, T., Chalhoub, S., Van Patten, K., & Adams, C. L. (5-7 July 2022). Exploring moral distress amongst veterinarians who care for poor people and their pets in multi-species communities [Presentation]. Constructing and contesting veterinary expertise: professionals, publics and prospects, online.