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Published in final edited form as: J Vet Med Educ. 2024 Sep 2;52(5):606–614. doi: 10.3138/jvme-2024-0024

Using a Positive Psychology Lens to Understand How Veterinary Medicine Learning Contexts Promote Student Thriving and Inhibit Frustration

Lindley McDavid 1, Sandra F San Miguel 2
PMCID: PMC11872016  NIHMSID: NIHMS1995395  PMID: 39504201

Abstract

To develop a veterinary workforce equipped for long-term professional success, educational institutions must prioritize their students’ well-being. Most approaches focus on building assets within the individual, like stress management, to limit negative outcomes, like burnout. Our research proposes a positive psychology-based model of student thriving that instead emphasizes the pervasive role of the social climate within a context. Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT) posits that social relationships at the institutional, faculty and staff, and peer levels will promote student thriving and limit frustration through the satisfaction or frustration of the three psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Veterinary medical students across the United States (N = 202) completed a survey, and we used structural equation modeling to test how their institution’s social climate predicted positive student outcomes (i.e., hope and life satisfaction) and a negative outcome (i.e., burnout) mediated by psychological need satisfaction and frustration. Students’ perceptions of positive aspects of their institution’s social climate ubiquitously predicted each variable in the model. Overall, the model positively predicted psychological need satisfaction (R2 = .44), hope (R2 = .67) and life satisfaction (R2 = .51), and negatively predicted psychological need frustration (R2 = .34) and burnout (R2 = .87). Findings emphasize the role veterinary medicine peers, faculty, and staff play in creating learning environments that support student thriving while limiting their frustration. By leveraging the interpersonal qualities posited by BPNT’s parent theory, self-determination theory, veterinary medical colleges can build a culture of student support that benefits all within their system.

Keywords: veterinary medical students, learning climate, university student well-being and ill-being, psychological need satisfaction and frustration, burnout, hope, life satisfaction

INTRODUCTION

A career within the veterinary medical profession provides opportunities for enjoyable and meaningful work where veterinarians build a sense of life purpose by helping people and their animals.1 In veterinary college, students unite their love of animals with their innate desire to learn, to conduct fulfilling work that supports personal enjoyment and purpose, and to build relationships with peers who have similar interests and ways of thinking.2 As professionals, veterinarians maintain these perspectives and value new opportunities to apply their knowledge to solve complex problems for clients and their animals. Veterinarians also value engaging in workplace cultures that foster a variety of positive social relationships with clients, animals, and colleagues.3 Yet, these positive experiences of veterinary medical students and professionals are often overshadowed by a worrying degree of negative experiences and outcomes.1 In the field of motivational psychology, and throughout this article, the term psychological ill-being is used to describe these undesirable experiences and outcomes.

Students in early adulthood across the globe, including veterinary medical students, are experiencing concerning levels of mental distress.4–8 Common concerns of the veterinary medicine learning climate include intense academic workloads, a lack of free time, competitiveness with peers, the difficulty of course content, and a lack of clarity in faculty expectations.5–8 These problematic indicators and experiences of ill-being can lead to significant, troublesome impacts on the personal and professional well-being of veterinary medicine graduates.9 For example, amidst a shortage of veterinarians in many specialties, veterinary professionals work long hours to meet the demands of an expanding caseload without relief in sight.10 Researchers, educators, and practitioners consistently communicate that these trends at both the student and professional level cannot be ignored and that supporting mental health is a priority of the profession.11

One objective of the American Association of Veterinary Medical College’s (AAVMC) 2020 strategic plan is to “promote a climate of well-being throughout academic veterinary medicine.” Current interventions and supports designed to foster student well-being aim to curb these troubling trends and develop a workforce that has both the academic skills and personal resources to be successful (see Liu & Gelderen12 for a review). For example, the AAVMC’s Academic Veterinary Well-being Professionals are licensed professionals, including those who specialize in mental health, that support student well-being. Embedded in most veterinary colleges, these individuals help students develop the competencies needed to become resilient and compassionate veterinary professionals.13

Much of the work to date focuses on building individual skills (e.g., resilience, mindfulness, self-care, coping, and stress and anxiety management) to reduce ill-being.14 While this approach demonstrates moderate short-term success, a single focus on a student’s individual characteristics, skills, and resources, ignores the systemic challenges of learning environments that perpetuate student ill-being and puts student well-being at risk. Research on veterinary medical students often mentions but does not address the greater learning context, thereby limiting the effectiveness of student support interventions.

The Positive Psychology Lens

Models and theories grounded in positive psychology emphasize how individual, collective and organizational strengths in a given context can promote well-being and, concurrently, protect from ill-being.15 The use of a positive psychology perspective in veterinary medicine contexts could help shift the focus from the ill-being of students and professionals, to learning how the many positive aspects of the educational and professional experience can support well-being.1 Cake et al.16 illustrate how the professional veterinary workplace offers opportunities to pursue a sense of purpose needed to lead a fulfilling life. Specifically, veterinary workplaces can provide opportunities for professionals to be engaged in meaningful pursuits, experience accomplishments and personal growth, and develop a strong sense of social connectedness. Building on the established strengths of veterinary educational and professional contexts could help address the serious concerns regarding the mental health of veterinary medical students and professionals.

In recent years, the application of a positive psychology approach has revolutionized the fields of youth development, organizational psychology, health behavior, and education.17 Practitioners and researchers within veterinary medicine can build on established positive psychology models to better explore, understand and design interventions focused on student well-being. The application of theoretical and evidenced-based models enables a systematic approach to the promotion of well-being and can help limit the use of one-off interventions focused on a few selected outcomes.

Basic Psychological Needs Theory a Sub-theory of Self-determination Theory

Basic psychological needs theory (BPNT)18 can address these needs within veterinary medical education by 1) utilizing a positive psychology framework, 2) including individual and contextual indicators of well-being, and 3) examining a model of well-being that identifies contextual mechanisms to systematically improve student support.

Basic psychological needs theory identifies three universal and essential psychological needs as paramount in one’s pursuit of well-being. In particular, it is the satisfaction of the psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness that promote well-being. Competence is one’s perception of ability and effectiveness for a given skill. Autonomy is one’s perception of control, choice, and volition over their behaviors. Relatedness is one’s perception of connection, support and care from the people around them. In contrast, frustration of one or more of the three psychological needs both undermine one’s well-being and promote ill-being. Specifically, competence is undermined when one feels incapable and ineffective for a given skill, autonomy is undermined when one feels forced or coerced to behave in a given manner, and relatedness is undermined when one feels disconnected or even isolated from the people around them.19,20

In academic contexts, psychological need satisfaction is a consistent and positive predictor of student well-being (e.g., engagement, enjoyment, life-satisfaction, academic motivation and success) and psychological need frustration is a consistent and positive predictor of student ill-being (i.e., depression, boredom, anxiety, dropout intention, and lower vitality).21–24 The examination of both psychological need satisfaction and frustration in a single model aligns with a positive psychology approach as it is instrumental in understanding how positive social contexts can concurrently protect or increase well-being and inhibit or decrease ill-being. The examination of both psychological need satisfaction and frustration in a single model to demonstrate how they, together, predict well- and ill-being is a needed extension of the research in all learning contexts25 and has not been examined in the veterinary medicine learning context.

Role of the Social Context framed by BPNT and SDT

To support psychological need satisfaction and prevent psychological need frustration, BPNT and its mother theory, self-determination theory, turn to the greater social context.26 More desirable social interactions that offer care, support, connection and consistent guidelines for success are more likely to promote psychological need satisfaction and protect from psychological need frustration. Therefore, when contextualized to learning contexts within universities, social interactions with peers, faculty and staff are instrumental in supporting student well-being and preventing student ill-being to the degree that they either satisfy or undermine the psychological needs.

Research across numerous cultures and contexts supports these core theoretical propositions, including within learning contexts similar to veterinary medical education. For example, learning contexts that support psychological need satisfaction in human medical students also support perceptions of ability to persist when faced with common challenges and their overall well-being.27,28 Also, human medical students who feel strongly connected to their peers have more positive perceptions of satisfaction with life and positive affect.29 Research has also demonstrated the instrumental role of university teaching faculty and staff. For example, students completing studies in a STEM fields who had positive perceptions of their instructor’s teaching practices were more likely to report positive emotional engagement, academic effort and self-reported learning.30 On the other hand, students who had less desirable perceptions of their instructor’s teaching practices reported lower levels of academic effort.30 There is a need to extend this research to address the learning climates within schools and colleges of veterinary medicine where most evidence for supporting student well-being focuses on identifying indicators of ill-being and building coping skills in students.1

The purpose of this study is to examine how veterinary medical educational institutions can support students’ well-being and inhibit ill-being by utilizing a positive psychology-based perspective and evidenced model of well-being. Therefore, we examined the BPNT-based associations among veterinary medical students’ perceptions of their institutional social climate, psychological need satisfaction and frustration, hope, life satisfaction, and burnout within a single model.

Specifically, we tested whether students’ perceptions of supportive and caring institutional relationships with peers, faculty and staff were associated with psychological need satisfaction, psychological need frustration, and indicators of well-being and ill-being. To test the full mediational chain as presented in BPNT and self-determination theory (SDT), psychological need satisfaction and frustration were entered as mediators in the association between institutional social climate and indicators of well-being and ill-being. See Figure 1 for a conceptual model of these hypothesized associations.

Figure 1:

Figure 1:

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Conceptual model of hypothesized associations based on previous evidence. Note: Solid lines indicate an expected a significant association. Dotted lines indicate an expected a negative or non-significant association. += positive association. −= negative association

METHODS

Participants

Veterinary medical students (N = 208) who were interested in participating in a nation-wide service-learning program, The League of VetaHumanz™, 31 between 2021 and 2022 were invited to participate in the study. Students represented 16 veterinary medical educational programs in the United States and were on average 25 years old (M = 24.7, R = 21–41, SD = 3.2). Students were primarily female (88%) and white (58% white, 13% Hispanic, 11% Black, 9% more than one, 7% Asian, 1% Native American or Pacific Islander, 1% unreported).

Procedures

This study was part of a larger research program focused on the influence of the VetaHumanz program on all stakeholders that was categorized as exempt by the university’s Institutional Review Board. As part of the program onboarding process, students were invited to complete a survey to help researchers understand their experiences as veterinary medical students and, in the future, inform evidence-based practices that support their well-being. See McDavid and San Miguel32 for other published findings on student’s perceptions of benefit from participation in the program. Surveys were administered online, and participants were informed that their participation in the program was in no way contingent on their participation in the study.

Measures

Institutional social climate was assessed using three subscales (community of peers, faculty and staff relationships) from the Johns Hopkins Learning Climate Scale33 modified to refer to veterinary students and their veterinary medicine college when needed. Students responded to three items about the degree of belongingness and connection within their overall peer community, three items about peer support, and six items about the degree of care, support and presence of role modeling relationships from faculty and staff. All items were on a five-point Likert scale where students indicated the degree that they experienced the contextual qualities within each subscale.

Basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration were assessed using the Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS).34,35 The scale included six subscales, namely competence satisfaction, competence frustration, relatedness satisfaction, relatedness frustration, autonomy satisfaction and autonomy frustration that were modified to refer to the students’ veterinary medicine program at their institution. Students indicated how true each statement was for them on a five-point Likert scale.

Well-being was assessed using the Satisfaction with Life Scale36 and Hope Scale.37 The Satisfaction with Life scale included four items where students responded on a 7-point scale to indicate the degree that their life was close to ideal and that they could have what was important to them. The Hope Scale included 11 items on an eight-point scale to indicate the degree of desirable future-oriented thinking in that they can set and then pursue their goals.

Ill-being was assessed using the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory.38 Students responded to eight questions about how frequently they experience emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment in their veterinary education program. All items were on a five-point Likert scale where students indicated the frequency that they experienced each statement never (1) to constantly (5).

Demographic information, including students’ race, gender, age, and university were also included as survey questions.

Data Analysis

Before conducting any analyses, students with incomplete data or who decided not to participate in the study (n = 6) were removed from the data set. All data screening, scale reliabilities, and descriptive statistics were calculated in SPSS v.28 with the remaining study sample (N = 202). A latent variable structural equation mediational model was conducted using AMOS v.28 for the main analyses. First, a measurement model tested the underlying fit of each latent variable and then the hypothesized associations among academic learning climate, basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, and student well- and ill-being were tested in a structural model with mediation. In both the measurement and structural models, root MeanSquare Error of Approximation (RMSEA) < .08, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) > .90, and Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI) > .90 were interpreted as indicating acceptable model fit. The magnitude of path coefficients, variance explained in the dependent variables and previous evidence and theory were used to inform interpretation and to evaluate model efficacy and study hypotheses.39

Throughout the model, parceling was applied to improve model parsimony by reducing scale complexity and homogeneity, and address imbalances in the number of items across multi-dimension variables.40 Each variable was modeled using a latent structure and variables with more than one dimension (i.e., learning climate, psychological needs, hope, and burnout) were modeled with a single manifest indicator from each of their relative dimensions. Both student perceptions of psychological need satisfaction and frustration had three manifest item indicators for the dimensions of competence support/frustration, autonomy support/frustration and relatedness support/frustration, respectively. Student perceptions of burnout also had three manifest item indictors for the dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Student perceptions of hope were modeled using two manifest item indicators for the dimensions of agency and pathways. Perceptions of the learning climate had three dimensions that included perceptions of relationships with peers, belonging in the peer community, and faculty and staff support. Each peer dimension had three items; however, the faculty and staff dimension had six items. Therefore, we reduced the imbalanced contribution of the six-item dimension to the learning climate latent variable using parceling by pairing items into three manifest indicators.

Next, study hypotheses were tested in a structural model. First, student perceptions of psychological need satisfaction and need frustration were entered as direct predictors of student perceptions of hope, life satisfaction and burnout. Then, student perceptions of the learning climate were entered as a direct predictor of each variable and as an indirect predictor of hope, life satisfaction, and burnout mediated by psychological need satisfaction and need frustration. These mediated associations were tested using bootstrapping with 95% bias-corrected confidence intervals.39

RESULTS

Preliminary Analyses

Multivariate assumptions were tested, and there were no univariate or multivariate outliers. Data were approximately normally distributed and linear. Correlations, means, standard deviations, and scale ranges and internal consistencies are presented in Table 1. Initial internal consistencies for all scales indicated adequate performance, and correlations among items were moderate to strong, and in the hypothesized direction. Specifically, correlations among the more adaptive variables (e.g., social climate, psychological need satisfaction, hope, and life satisfaction) were significant and positive, correlations among the less adaptive variables (psychological need frustration and burnout) were significant and positive, and any significant correlations across these two groups of variables were negative. Overall, students had moderate-to-high, and desirable perceptions of the social climate at their institution, psychological need satisfaction, hope, and life satisfaction with means about the mid-point of the scale and moderate to low, and, therefore, also more desirable, perceptions of psychological need frustration and burnout.

Table 1:

Descriptive statistics and correlations

Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Institutional social climate .91
2. Psychological need satisfaction .61* .88
3. Psychological need frustration − .55* − .76 .87
4. Hope .34* .54* − .47* .83
5. Life satisfaction .35* .51* − .46* .54* .88
6. Burnout − .52* − .56* .68* − .47* − .48* .81
Mean 4.04 4.21 2.07 6.85 5.39 2.51
Standard Deviation .64 .52 .64 .68 1.06 .62
Scale Range 1–5 1–5 1–5 1–8 1–7 1–5
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Note: Cronbach’s alphas are listed along the diagonal for each scale.

*

p < .01.

The measurement model, including all latent variables without the hypothesized predictive paths had adequate-to-borderline fit indices (RMSEA = .09, TLI = .87, CFI = .89). However, all the items and manifest item indicators for each latent variable were significant and moderate to strong (βrange = .44-. 88). Therefore, the measurement model was preserved as described, and the full structural equation mediational model was tested.

Structural Model

The structural model that tested the hypothesized associations among institutional learning climate, psychological need satisfaction and frustration, well-being, and ill-being demonstrated acceptable model fit indices. Overall, the model supported the hypothesized associations (see Table 2 and Figure 2 for results). First, psychological need satisfaction had significant and strong associations with student perceptions of well-being (β = .67–.97) and no significant association with student perceptions of ill-being. Conversely, psychological need frustration had a significant and strong association with student perceptions of ill-being (β = .95) and no significant associations with student perceptions of well-being. Student perceptions of their institution’s social climate was a ubiquitous predictor of all of the variables in the model via significant direct and indirect paths. Perceptions of their institution’s social climate had significant and strong associations with psychological need satisfaction (β = .66), psychological need frustration (β = –.58), and significant and strong mediated associations with hope (β = .64), life satisfaction (β = .54), and burnout (β = –.53). Overall, the model predicted 34–44% of the variance in the psychological needs, and 51–87% of the variance in well- and ill-being.

Table 2:

Direct and indirect effects from the structural equation mediational model

Direct path β SE p
Institutional social climate → Psychological need satisfaction .66 .06 <.01
→ Psychological need frustration −.58 .08 <.01
→ Hope −.25 .10 .09
→ Life satisfaction −.17 .16 .20
→ Burnout −.04 .10 .84
Psychological need satisfaction → Hope .97 .30 <.01
→ Life satisfaction .67 .45 <.01
→ Burnout .04 .26 .85
Psychological need frustration → Hope .04 .19 .85
→ Life satisfaction −.16 .31 2.3
→ Burnout .94 .22 <.01
Bootstrapping
95%CI
Indirect path β SE Lower Upper
Institutional social Climate → Hope .64 .19 .33 1.05
→ Life Satisfaction .54 .31 .49 1.60
→ Burnout −.53 .16 −.90 −.24
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β= standardized regression coefficient, SE = standard error, CI = confidence interval, RMSEA = .08, TLI = .88, CFI = .90.

Figure 2:

Figure 2:

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Findings of the structural model that tests the associations among students’ perceptions of their institutional social climate, and their psychological need satisfaction and frustration, hope, life satisfaction, and burnout. Note: Significant paths (p < .01) are represented by a solid line, and nonsignificant paths are represented by a dashed line. To improve the clarity of the depicted model, the nonsignificant direct paths from student perceptions of their institutional social climate to indicators of well- and ill-being were not depicted. See Table 2 for the results of all tested direct and indirect paths

DISCUSSION

The findings from our test of a comprehensive model of well-being demonstrate the potential utility of a positive psychology framework for the promotion of well-being and protection again still-being in veterinary students. This work helps establish desirable institutional social climates and psycho-logical need satisfaction as vital mechanisms of veterinary student life satisfaction and hope. These findings also help establish desirable institutional climates as an inhibit or of psychological need frustration and burnout. Each significant association echoes findings in other learning contexts and offers a foundation for further research and interventions focused on building contextual and intrapersonal assets to enhance veterinary student well-being and protect from ill-being.

Institutional Climate and Student Psychological Need Satisfaction and Well-being

Students’ perceptions of social connections and their overall sense of community positively, strongly, and directly predicted their psychological need satisfaction, and positively and indirectly predicted hope and life satisfaction. These associations predicted moderate to large percentages of variance in psychological need satisfaction (44%), hope (67%), and life satisfaction (51%) and, as a result, can serve as a primary target in efforts designed to support veterinary student well-being.

These findings demonstrate that when students can establish friendships and build a sense of community and trust among their veterinary school peers, faculty, and staff, they are more likely to have increased psychological need satisfaction. Specifically, students will feel more successful and capable (competence), that their decisions align with who they are (autonomy), and they feel connected and valued by others (relatedness). It is these perceptions of psychological need satisfaction that foster a sense of motivation and positive outlook about their future (hope) and a sense of contentment with the direction of their life (life satisfaction).

Institutional Climate and Student Psychological Need Frustration and Ill-being

Students’ perceptions of closeness, support, and connection with their peers, faculty, and staff negatively and directly predicted their psychological need frustration, and negatively and indirectly predicted burnout. These associations predicted a moderate-to-large percentage of variance in psychological need frustration (34%) and burnout (87%) and can also serve as viable and useful aims of programs focused on supporting veterinary students.

These findings indicate that when students feel like they have a lower sense of ability to establish friendships and build a sense of community and trust among their veterinary school peers, faculty, and staff, they are more likely to experience psychological need frustration. Specifically, students feel more ineffective and unsuccessful (frustration of competence), that their decisions conflict with who they are as a person and make them feel like they lack control (frustration of autonomy), and they feel socially disconnected (frustration of relatedness). When perceptions of competence, autonomy and relatedness are undermined, feelings of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a lack of personal accomplishment increase (burnout). Burnout is intrinsically linked to academic challenges and dropout behaviors in university students,41 and it is of particular concern in veterinary students, as feelings of burnout persist into their professional careers.8

The Pervasive Role of the Institutional Climate in Veterinary Medicine Colleges

In the current study, we examined psychological need satisfaction and frustration in a single model and demonstrated that students’ desirable perceptions of their veterinary college’s social context significantly and strongly predicted downstream variables within the model. As such, the responsibility of supporting students’ well-being and ill-being should not rest solely on the student where interventions aim to improve student coping skills. Instead, the broader social context of the institution should be strengthened by 1) training peers, faculty and staff to interact with students using positive interpersonal qualities, and 2) providing opportunities for and recognition when positive interpersonal practices are put into practice.

Veterinary medical students, administrators, faculty, and staff can foster student well-being and inhibit ill-being by changing how their learning context may support and constrain desirable social interactions. Research in other contexts demonstrates how to shape a positive social context by training leaders to engage those in their care using interpersonal qualities based in SDT. Specifically, SDT identifies autonomy support, involvement and structure as vital nutrients of social relationships that support psychological need satisfaction and well-being. Autonomy-supportive interpersonal behaviors provide opportunities for choice, offer rationale for decisions made, and allow others to act in line with their values.42,43 Involvement characterizes relationships based on trust, care, and support.42,44 Social relationships that provide structure provide clear and consistent expectations, and offer the support and feedback needed to help others successfully meet those expectations.43,44 Program administrators can help students’ peers, and faculty and staff serve as agents of a positive learning context by teaching about these essential elements of positive social interactions and how to enact them.

Successful trainings and workshops have effectively enabled teachers, youth program leaders, and corporation managers to use SDT-based behaviors to support well-being in students, in young people from diverse backgrounds, and in their employees. Across these different contexts and approaches, trainings consistently lead to observed and perceived improvements in interpersonal interactions and a variety of indicators of well-being, including psychological need satisfaction, self-worth, hope, positive emotions, and motivation.44–48 Within this work, there is also clear evidence that leaders who successfully implement an improved interpersonal style, because of their SDT-based training, also experience personal motivational and behavioral benefits. There is no reason to think trainings that enable faculty and staff within colleges of veterinary medicine to apply adaptive teaching and mentoring practices, and policies and procedures that support a positive social climate would not yield these same benefits for both students and for the leaders themselves.

The application of autonomy support, involvement and structure can offer practical guides for the systematic improvement of the veterinary medicine educational context. As noted in the introduction, primary concerns of the veterinary medicine learning climate include intense academic workloads, a lack of free time, competitiveness with peers, the difficulty of course content, and a lack of clarity in faculty expectations.5–8 Table 3 provides examples of how SDT-based interpersonal behaviors can address the socio-contextual elements of these concerns. Efforts to mitigate these contextual factors, such as the intense workload of students, also requires additional process- and system-level interventions.

Table 3:

Example applications of self-determination theory to common student concerns

SDT-based interpersonal behavior examples
Common Concern Autonomy support Involvement Structure
Intense academic workload and lack of free time Listen to student concerns
Explain learning outcome/rationale for assignments
Explain how you take student concerns seriously and pursue appropriate opportunities for reduced workload		 Provide comfort and reassurance
Provide practical support in the form of academic success skills
Advocate for students		 Communicate expectations for performance using course syllabi and assignment rubrics
Demonstrate how students can realistically meet expectations
Make it clear when participation is required and how it influences their academic success/performance
Competitiveness with peers Provide opportunities for all students to serve as leaders
Reduce the use of peer comparison (pressure and shame) to motivate students		 Promote respectful and supportive relationships with peers in and out of the classroom/clinic Support fair student evaluations using established rubrics
Remove opportunities for peer comparison from reward or student performance structure
Difficulty of course content Limit the use of external pressures to encourage student performance
Offer some flexibility in assignment due dates to better accommodate students’ overall workload		 Help students strategically select courses to reduce course overload
Sympathize with the unique demands of students within the veterinary education context		 Create, communicate and demonstrate a clear path for student success
Offer regular opportunities for feedback so students are aware of their progress
Lack of clarity in faculty expectations Create opportunities for students to ask questions and voice their opinions Show genuine interest and care when students raise concerns Set expectations for all student tasks, and a clear and consistent framework for their evaluation
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SDT = Self-determination theory

The current study helps establish the theoretical associations of BPNT and SDT in the veterinary educational context. Future research should consider a longitudinal design that examines how change in the social context predicts change in well-being and ill-being. A longitudinal design would enable researchers to examine how these variables, such as perceptions of the social context, improve or worsen, and how those changes yield desirable and undesirable change on outcomes (e.g., increased psychological need satisfaction or frustration). Readers may notice that in the current study, students, on average, had relatively desirable perceptions of well-being and ill-being, and of the social context. Students who elected to take part in this study had the personal and social capacity to participate in a community service program and represent a small portion of the students at each institution (n = 3–29 from each institution). Future studies should aim to recruit a broader sample that includes students who may not feel like they have the capacity to take part in an extracurricular program. These students may have different experiences than those included in this sample, such as less desirable perceptions of the social context, and more psychological need frustration and less psychological need satisfaction. Future research could also investigate the impacts of programs specifically designed to foster a sense of community, build personal and professional skills, and enhance student well-being using the BPNT and SDT lens as well.

Self-determination theory and BPNT offer one approach to answer the call for improved veterinary student outcomes using an evidenced positive psychology approach. These theories explain how to improve the social climate by providing clear recommendations on what peers, faculty, and staff can do to better meet the needs of the students they serve. In addition, these theories tackle the dual challenge of both reducing mechanisms of ill-being (psychological need frustration), while enhancing mechanisms of well-being (psychological need satisfaction) to enable long lasting improvements for students. It is our hope that this research encourages a positive psychology-based and more context focused approach to student well-being that aims to help all those within the system thrive.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Biographies

Lindley McDavid, MSc, PhD, Senior Evaluation and Research Associate, Evaluation and Learning Research Center, Purdue University, 2550 Northwestern Ave., West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. Her research interests include understanding how contexts support well-being to foster personal growth, motivation, and behavior change.

Sandra F. San Miguel, DVM, PhD, Associate Dean for Engagement, Departments of Veterinary Administration and Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. Her research interests include scholarly engagement activities focused on developing role modeling programs for children and studying the impact of these programs on both the career aspirations and self-efficacy of participating youth, and the personal and professional impact on participating role models.

Contributor Information

Lindley McDavid, Evaluation and Learning Research Center, Purdue University, 2550 Northwestern Ave., West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA..

Sandra F. San Miguel, Department of Veterinary Administration and Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA..

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