The COVET Study Research Goals

The goals of this proposed research are to assess veterinary and animal care workers’ (VACW’s) risk perception and ability and willingness to report to duty during a pandemic crisis, and to uncover the factors that affect these outcomes, thus providing a needed evidence base for future planning and training efforts. We will accomplish this goal through three independent objectives:

• Describe VACW’s perceived risk of COVID-19 disease and knowledge gaps of their roles in crisis (both routine and emergent roles);
• Explore barriers and facilitators to VACW’s ability and willingness to respond during a crisis; and
• Capture perceptions on current and potential organizational support systems to increase response willingness and mental health resilience before, during, and after the pandemic.

The ultimate goal of this research is to build an animal care workforce that is not only capable, but willing, to respond during this and future crisis situations, and to identify strategies that can be implemented by public health agencies and decision-makers to help support this workforce in the current and future responses.