Evaluating Mental Health Factors in Veterinary Medicine Students

Overview

University of Alaska Fairbanks Current research by the Center for Disease Control documents an increased risk of suicidal ideation and completion in practicing veterinarians in the U.S. (Nett et al. and Tomasi et al.). The research goal of this study was to examine whether symptoms of mental distress (depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation) were present in future veterinarians prior to entering practice, specifically, within the veterinary student population. A sample of 832 veterinary students, from three different U.S. veterinary colleges, participated in the study. Research participan ts completed an online survey, resulting in a 53% response rate. The sample population was largely female (85.3%), Caucasian (88.2%), 18-34 years old (97.6%), with no dependents (83.9%). Significant correlations were discovered between mental health amongst veterinary students and several factors: gender, the ability to pay for vet school, perceived competitiveness of vet school, role conflict, coping style, perfectionism, empathy, life satisfaction, spirituality, social support, awareness of and perceived ability to pay for counseling services on campus. Mirroring the veterinarian population, vet students have significantly higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation when compared to the U.S. population. Suggestions for veterinary colleges to decrease mental distress amongst their students are discussed. Shakey Wakey: A Portable Innovation To Wake The Deaf, Hearing Impaired, Elderly, And Children Kelsey Krusen Center for Advanced Technical Studies Chapin, SC Phase one of the Shakey Wakey Project was to test how long it took children under 14 to wake up to smoke alarms. Phase One, also referred to as ‘Alarming Study’, tested the hypothesis: if a smoke detector goes off after 1 hour of sleep, then a child will wake up around 1 minute after a smoke detector starts beeping. Phase two of the Shakey Wakey Project was to test can people aged 60 years and older hear the frequency of smoke detectors. Phase two, also referred to as ‘Be Alarmed’ tested the hypothesis: if participants are played a tone at a frequency of 3100 Hz, then 75% of the participants will not be able to hear the tone. Phase three: The Shakey Wakey is a portable biomedical innovation to wake the deaf, hearing impaired, elderly, and children during a fire. This innovation was created to combat the problem, people don’t wake up to the average smoke detector frequency of 3,100 to 4,100 Hz. A Raspberry Pi was programmed using Raspbian to write code in Python coding language. The code utilized audio op, pyaudio, time, and os modules to tell the Raspberry Pi to recognize the frequencies of smoke detectors and to then use the GPIO pins to turn on a vibrating device. In order for the code to function properly, the callback order of the programs priorly listed must be formatted so that the Raspberry Pi can support the code. The prototype built during this project is a proof of concept; to make the Shakey Wakey marketable, it must be shrunk in size while still waking the user within 5 seconds. Future work will be to incorporate the idea of waking people into smartphones and smartwatches by reaching out to corporations such as Google, Amazon, and Apple.

Competition history

• JSHS 2020 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

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