Compassion Fatigue, Euthanasia Stress, and Their Management in Laboratory Animal Research

Abstract

Many people in diverse roles contribute to the success of animal welfare and research outcomes in laboratory animal research programs. These personnel include but are not limited to animal care and veterinary staff, researchers and their teams, facility management support, IACUC and compliance members, institutional officials, board members, vendors, security personnel, administrative staff, and all others involved in laboratory animal science programs. Any of these persons are potentially vulnerable to the moral stressors innate to working with animals in research, teaching, and testing. Moral stress occurs when one is aware of the ethical principles at stake, but external factors prevent action. 11 This situation can happen in any profession. 25 An example in our industry is the performance of euthanasia. This activity is considered moral stress and is regarded as one of the most significant contributors to the development of compassion fatigue. 11 Although it is difficult to identify a specific definition of compassion fatigue across professions, it can be described as "the reduced capacity in being empathetic and the consequent behaviors and emotions resulting from knowing about a traumatizing event experienced or suffered by a person" 20 and is characterized by deep physical and emotional exhaustion. 15 Compassion fatigue results in reduced empathy for others (coworkers and loved ones) and can diminish the quality of medical care delivered to animals. The term "compassion fatigue" has been used interchangeably with the terms 'burnout' and 'secondary traumatic stress,' but there are slight variations in their inherent meanings. Burnout is a cumulative process associated with increased workload and institutional stress 1 and is not necessarily due to trauma. 11,16 Secondary traumatic stress (also called vicarious trauma) can occur even when a traumatizing event is not directly experienced by a person, but simply by hearing about a traumatizing event

Strengthening Workplace Well-Being in Research Animal Facilities

“…Similarly, an inability for those working in research animal facilities to speak openly about their questions and concerns related to animals or research, because of a lack of workplace openness, can lead to workplace stress ( 3 , 27 ). In human health care fields such as nursing, a perceived lack of opportunity to discuss concerns is an important source of job stress ( 28 ).…”

“…As mentioned, compassion stress is a component of working with animals in science. However, multiple studies have demonstrated that individuals and organizations that incorporate resiliency building into their practices promote both human and animal well-being ( 3 , 4 ). Supporting implementation of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement), empowering people to be creative problem solvers, providing opportunities to report questions or concerns, and expecting accountability at all levels, creates a work environment that values people, animals, and science ( 2 ).…”

Laboratory Animal Welfare Meets Human Welfare: A Cross-Sectional Study of Professional Quality of Life, Including Compassion Fatigue in Laboratory Animal Personnel

“…Laboratory animal personnel may be at risk for compassion fatigue as a result of their role as animal caretakers that often includes exposure toand sometimes perpetuation of-animal stress and pain. Their compassion fatigue may be exacerbated by the factors discussed above, although relatively few studies have been conducted with laboratory animal personnel specifically (10).…”

Creating space to build emotional resilience in the animal research community

“…A related concept, empathetic distress fatigue, may better capture the consequences for caregivers such as animal staff 8 . Compassion is an attitude associated with 'feeling for, ' while empathy is more closely associated with a sense of 'feeling with' and has a stronger affective impact 9 .…”