ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Humanities and Social Sciences
Ecologies of Care Qualitative Insights from a Psychosocial Study on Veterinarians' Experiences in Northeastern Italy
Provisionally accepted
- University of Padua, Padua, Italy
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Over the last decade, literature has raised concerns about the psychological well-being of veterinarians, highlighting exposure to economic, organizational, and clinical stressors. However, most research is quantitative and concentrated in Anglophone contexts (UK/US), leaving a significant gap in qualitative, EU-based data. While quantitative research highlights trends, qualitative methods offer in-depth insight crucial for developing tailored interventions. Addressing this gap, this study adopts a qualitative methodology informed by a psychosocial framework to explore the lived experiences of 20 companion animal veterinarians in Northeastern Italy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Five themes were generated, revealing that veterinary science and veterinarians are undergoing a profound transformation within their evolving sociocultural role and mandate. Findings highlight tensions related to fragmented communities, socioemotional delegitimization, and the hidden weight of changing client dynamics. This ripple effect, marked by complex tensions affecting personal (expectations) and professional (caring function) domains, challenges the coherence and sustainability of their occupational identity and psychosocial well-being, requiring an ongoing labor of readaptation. The study concludes that contemporary psychosocial distress in veterinary work should not be understood solely through individual-level factors. Rather, distress reflects profound changes in the sociocultural landscape, including shifts in how human–animal relationships are framed and changing client expectations. This highlights a pressing need for veterinary science to engage in deeper dialogue with the human and social sciences. An ecological perspective is essential for designing targeted systemic interventions, informing policy, and creating effective, context-sensitive training.
Keywords: veterinarians1, Mental health2, qualitative research3, ecological approach4, psychosocial stress5, reflexive thematic analysis6, professional identity7, Italy8
Received: 23 Jun 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 De Vincenzo and Testoni. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ciro De Vincenzo, ciro.devincenzo@unipd.it
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.