The advice
Animal research is often misunderstood and stigmatized by the public, fuelling a vicious cycle of secrecy in science. This can place extra stress on early-career researchers, who are already dealing with high pressure and uncertainty in their working lives. A 2021 Spanish study identified PhD students as a vulnerable group; they had the lowest scores for professional quality of life among six categories of people working with laboratory animals1. The groups comprised technicians, welfare staff, veterinarians and several types of researchers, and the study compared their responses about working with animals.
Nature spoke to three scientists who offered suggestions for caring for yourself, your career and your animals.
Connect with others
Many researchers who work with animals have similar experiences, especially when they’re starting out, says Fernando Gonzalez-Uarquin, a postdoctoral researcher at the University Medical Center Mainz in Germany. He can relate, having worked with rats as a master’s student in Colombia, and with chickens as a PhD student in Germany. Your reactions are valid, he stresses.
Moreover, you’re not alone in feeling alone. “The difficulty in discussing these feelings openly is also a systemic issue,” observes María Laura Gutiérrez, a biologist at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Buenos Aires. “In many research environments, there is still a culture that discourages vulnerability, particularly around animal experimentation. This can lead to isolation and prevent researchers from seeking the support they need.”
So, the problem is with the research environment, not you. “When students are mocked for showing emotion about animal research, that reflects a problem with the research culture,” Gonzalez-Uarquin says.
The age of animal experiments is waning. Where will science go next?
Ideally, you would be able to share your feelings with your principal investigator, but that’s not always possible. In a study by Gonzalez-Uarquin and his colleagues, roughly one-quarter of animal-handling early-career researchers surveyed in Germany reported poor communication with their supervisors2. “One of the most important factors is communication within the whole research group,” Gonzalez-Uarquin emphasizes. Otherwise, researchers “tend to internalize the stress”.
If necessary, you might be able to find mentors outside your formal relationship with your principal investigator, perhaps among other PhD students, says Heather Hersh, a clinical psychologist and well-being coach in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who runs workshops for early-career researchers involved in animal research.
In addition to connecting with other people, it’s important to engage in training opportunities where available. “Training in animal research is one of the most effective ways to reduce stress and to improve communication” and confidence, Gonzalez-Uarquin has found.
Care for yourself
When Hersh runs workshops for professionals who work with lab animals, sometimes her first step is educating participants about compassion fatigue: increased stress resulting from overexposure to a person’s or an animal’s distress and pain, which is common among health-care professionals3 and people working with lab animals.
There are many possible symptoms of compassion fatigue, which can manifest as physical, psychological and behavioural changes. These can include exhaustion, anger and headaches4. To recognize your personal baseline, Hersh recommends using the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) tool, a quick and freely accessible questionnaire.
Self-assessment is helpful, but to protect against compassion fatigue, Hersh says that another crucial tool is self-care. “If you’re not taking good care of yourself, you’re not going to be able to take good care of the animal and do this good work,” she notes. This can also help towards your goal of continuing to do the work you love. “Practising good self-care is imperative to stay in a field long term, to recognize that it’s a marathon and not a sprint.”
General self-care practices include getting enough sleep, eating well, exercising, connecting with other people and engaging in spirituality or faith practices if appropriate. Hersh highlights the importance of disengaging from work to recharge your batteries, both on a daily basis and during holidays. You recognize that the days on which you have to euthanize more mice than usual are causing you anguish, so take special care around those days.
Hersh says that professional mental-health support could also be helpful, ideally from a provider with a good understanding of compassion fatigue. Even if your university doesn’t offer easily accessible mental-health support, it might be able to connect students to therapists in the community. Health insurance or public-health organizations might also provide support.
