Suicidality in Veterinarians: Trends at Different Career Stages and a Test of the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate sex differences in suicide ideation and attempt at different career stages and test hypotheses derived from the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS) in a sample of veterinarians. METHOD: The sample of currently practicing veterinarians used for this study (N = 10,319) was derived from a larger sample. Participants completed an online self-report questionnaire. RESULTS: As predicted, women generally had a higher prevalence of suicide ideation and attempt across career stages, except men and women showed similar rates of suicide attempt after veterinary school. Contrary to hypotheses, no interaction effects between IPTS variables were observed. However, perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and hopelessness exhibited the main effects of suicide ideation, and there were main effects of perceived burdensomeness and hopelessness on suicide attempt. Compared with perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, hopelessness had a relatively more robust relationship with suicide ideation. We also found a significant relationship between fearlessness about death and suicide attempt, but no relationship between self-reported pain tolerance and suicide attempt. CONCLUSIONS: Some of our findings were consistent with the IPTS while others were not. Future research would benefit from a longitudinal examination of suicidality in veterinarians.

Female veterinarians generally had more severe suicidality than male veterinarians.There were no sex differences in suicide attempt after veterinary school.The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide had mixed support in a sample of veterinarians.

Examining the effects of response monitoring instructions on endorsements of suicidal ideation in an online study.

INTRODUCTION: It is common practice for researchers to monitor responses to items assessing suicidal ideation and follow-up with high-risk participants, when their identities are known. However, it is becoming increasingly common for researchers to administer fully anonymous online surveys that do not allow for follow-ups with participants at higher risk. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether these two different approaches-monitoring and follow-up versus no monitoring or follow-up-affect the willingness of participants to endorse suicidal ideation. METHODS: The sample included N = 555 undergraduate students, who were randomly assigned to the monitoring (n = 275) or anonymous (n = 280) instruction conditions, with the monitoring condition shifting to anonymous, non-monitored responses at Time 2. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in self-reported suicidal ideation between those in the monitoring and anonymous condition at Time 1. At Time 2, no significant interaction was identified between condition and time, suggesting that the change in instructions across timepoints for the monitoring condition had no impact on endorsement of suicidal ideation. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that both monitoring and anonymous instruction methods should elicit the same pattern of endorsements of suicidal ideation.

"The Damage Happens You Just Try Not to Dwell on It": Experiences of Discrimination by Gender and Sexual Minority Veterinary Professionals and Students in the US and the UK.

Data collected in a 2016 survey of veterinary students and professionals from the United States and the United Kingdom who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and asexual (LGBTQ+) indicated that 34.5% (152/440) had experienced difficulties related to their sexual orientation or gender identity at school or work. This study's objective was to examine narrative responses collected in the 2016 survey and utilize content analysis to explore the research questions: What are the concerns of the LGBTQ+ veterinary population, and how do they attempt to resolve difficulties at work and school? To address these questions, we developed two taxonomies that cataloged (a) the difficulties reported by veterinary professionals and students in the 2016 survey sample and (b) the outcomes of their attempts to resolve these difficulties. The themes related to difficulties that occurred most frequently were exposure to homophobic or transphobic language (n = 69; 45.4%), outness/staying in the closet (45, 29.6%), and negative emotional outcomes (32, 21.2%). The most common themes that described the outcomes of their attempts to resolve those difficulties were unresolved (n = 41, 27.0%), changed jobs or graduated (22, 14.5%), and found self-acceptance of acceptance from others (21, 13.8%). Our findings can inform the efforts of schools and colleges of veterinary medicine, professional organizations, and workplaces in targeting improvements to support LGBTQ+ students and professionals and the development of measures tailored to this population.

Influences of executive and memory functioning on memory for the sources of actions.

This research provides evidence for similarities and differences between the results of traditional source memory paradigms and results from the Person-Action Conjunction (PAC) test. In the PAC test, participants view actions performed by different actors and are later tested on their memory for which actor performed each action. The PAC test can be construed as a source memory test, with actions serving as target information and actors representing the sources of those actions. Unlike traditional source memory tests, which involve a many-to-few relation of targets to sources, the PAC test involves a many-to-many relation, typically with equal numbers of actors and actions. To test whether the relation of targets to sources influences the cognitive mechanisms underlying memory for the sources of actions, young and older participants in two experiments (N = 217) took part in the PAC test, either in the context of many actors or just two actors. Participants also received Glisky and Kong's (2008) battery of tests of executive and memory functioning. Executive functioning predicted source memory performance in older adults tested in the context of just two actors, whereas memory functioning predicted young adult performance in this context. Moreover, memory functioning predicted the performance of both age groups when tested in the context of many actors, even after controlling for memory for those actors in isolation. Both young and older adults may thus rely on basic associative mechanisms to remember the sources of actions when each actor is only encountered once in the context of performing an individual action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).