Mental wellbeing and psychosocial working conditions of autistic veterinary surgeons in the UK

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Smits, F., Houdmont, J., Hill, B. K., & Pickles, K. J. (2023). Mental wellbeing and psychosocial working conditions of autistic veterinary surgeons in the UK. Veterinary Record, 193(8), Article e3311. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.3311

Publication date: 21 Aug 2023 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 4 (25.0%)
  1. Femke Smits
  2. Jonathan Houdmont
  3. Bradley K Hill
  4. Kirstie J. Pickles *

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Certain autistic characteristics (such as hyper-focus and attention to detail) are valued by veterinary surgeons and autistic adults may disproportionately self-select into the profession. Links between mental wellbeing and retention in the veterinary profession highlight an imperative to profile autistic veterinary surgeons' mental wellbeing and identify protective factors. The psychosocial work environment may represent one such protective factor. We aimed to assess autistic veterinary surgeons' mental wellbeing, the extent to which their psychosocial working conditions achieved UK government management standards and links between these. METHODS: Eighty-five autistic veterinary surgeons completed the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and the Health and Safety Executive's Management Standards Indicator Tool. Descriptive comparisons were drawn with normative data; correlation and linear regression analyses examined relations between mental wellbeing and psychosocial working conditions. RESULTS: Mental wellbeing and psychosocial work environment quality were markedly below veterinary surgeon and general workforce norms. Psychosocial working conditions accounted for 44% of the unique variance in mental wellbeing, with 'control' and 'role' making a significant contribution. LIMITATION: This exploratory study involved a small self-selecting sample, raising the possibility of response bias. CONCLUSION: Work design centred on the enhancement of control and role clarity would likely support mental wellbeing in this population.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 23 Oct 2026 01:00.

Cited references
33
With a DOI
24
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
9
4 / 33 (12.1%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
7 / 33 (21.2%)
References with detected author names
26 / 33 (78.8%)
Without detected author names
7
Without a structured title
7
Without a stable identifier
8
References with raw author names still to review
7
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
107
From DOI or external metadata
107
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
7
44 / 107 (41.1%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 63 / 107 (58.9%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
19 / 107 (17.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 19 / 44 (43.2%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 11 / 87 (12.6%).
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