Conventional veterinary training equips veterinarians with skills to treat medical problems with animals. Until recently little emphasis has been placed on the human aspects of veterinary training and treatment. With the identification of the Human/Companion Animal Bond as a distinct area of scientific investigation, an increased awareness in this human factor in veterinary work has begun to emerge. To address the human factor, this study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of a training program developed to equip veterinarians with intervention skills and knowledge of family emotional process.;One, if not the most stressful, aspects of veterinary work reported by clinicians was dealing with anxious pet owners. The rationale for this study was to equip veterinarians with family psychotherapy theory and methodology to better handle anxious pet owners, thus reducing job stress for veterinarians.;The training program developed offered fifteen contact hours. The training was experience based learning as well as conventional didactic presentation.;The population was selected from among the staffs of two emergency veterinary clinics. For the pre-post control group design, one clinic comprised the treatment group and the other the control group. Pre and post testing was conducted on the dimensions of clinician anxiety level and level of clinician empathic response. These measures were taken after simulated pet/owner interviews which employed trained actors as pet owners and real pets as identified patients. Each of these simulated interviews was videotaped as part of the evaluation process.;The research findings were statistically significant supporting a treatment effect on the dimension of increased empathy expressed by the clinician. The anxiety results were inconclusive in that raw scores on this measure suggested the presence of socially desirable scoring patterns.;The scoring patterns for the treatment and control groups combined with their subjective evaluations of the training lend support to the need for training in this area. Implications for future training and research in veterinary stress management training are addressed.

This study was designed to evaluate the factors related to Physical Education course enrollment at a predominately two-year state college operating under a community college model in the state of Florida as it pertains to enrollment declines in electives focused on health and wellness. The mixed-methods study included a survey of current students at the college (n =177) perceptions and reasons for enrolling in physical education classes. Further, a historical data analysis (n = 87,399) of students' institutional records was conducted to investigate the relationship between student success and physical education. Groups included those who took physical education courses and those who had not. Propensity score matching was achieved at < .002 and matching groups totaled n = 3,258. The analysis of the data indicated that there was a relationship between Physical Education course enrollment and some student success metrics (e.g. course completion). Further, a thematic analysis of the student survey data identified factors that influence elective decision-making including: (a) students' focus on self-improvement, (b) degree and career path planning, and (c) personal enjoyment. This study provides insight for researchers and college administrators interested in elective enrollment, particularly with those focused on Physical Education. The metrics and trends identified can guide future research and inform analytical decision points in the collegiate Physical Education space.

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how 16 secondary school physical educators working in three different schools described and made sense of the place in which they worked. Three broad views of the school as a workplace were identified in the literature: (a) the physical setting of the school, (b) how the school is organized, and (c) the culture in which teachers do their work. Teachers were asked to take pictures of their school as a workplace and then to describe their pictures. A minimum of three weeks was spent at each school. Field notes were taken during job shadowing and observations and transcripts of informal and formal interviews were generated. School profiles were developed to describe the physical, organizational, and cultural characteristics of each school. Although the profiles represent the job of teaching physical education in secondary schools, they represent three distinctly different work environments in which the job of teaching occurs. There were also broad similarities identified among the three schools. These similarities are represented in the form of the following themes: (a) teachers feel ambivalent about the effects of isolation, (b) teachers lack control over significant aspects of their daily work lives, (c) teachers seek rewards for activities other than physical education instruction, (d) teachers feel a vacuum in department leadership: like a boat without a rudder, (e) teachers are influenced more by students than by any other aspect of their workplace, (f) teachers' finite time and energy are drawn away from instruction toward other responsibilities. This study found that school context has a significant impact on teachers, their work and their behavior in the workplace and that schools have a strong role in defining the job of teaching physical education. Although the construct of teaching implies work that is common and well-known, work in schools varies in relation to the specific context of each school. Cultural variation among these schools defined their most important differences.

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