Traumatic Stress of Frontline Workers in Culling Livestock Animals in South Korea
The last decade brought several devastating outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and avian influenza in South Korea, which had been handled through preventive culling, despite the controversy surrounding its efficiency and ethical considerations. Notably, the lack of regulations on culling processes...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/10/1920 |
| _version_ | 1797550551866540032 |
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| author | Hyomin Park Myung Sun Chun Yunjeong Joo |
| author_facet | Hyomin Park Myung Sun Chun Yunjeong Joo |
| author_sort | Hyomin Park |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The last decade brought several devastating outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and avian influenza in South Korea, which had been handled through preventive culling, despite the controversy surrounding its efficiency and ethical considerations. Notably, the lack of regulations on culling processes has exposed the workers to extremely harsh working conditions. This study investigates the effect of culling jobs on the mental health of the frontline workers, based on 200 samples collected through a web-based survey conducted on participants with experience of culling tasks. Culling was found to have a powerful negative effect on the workers’ mental health, including high depression rates. Of those surveyed, 83.7% answered that the working conditions were intense, and 74.5% showed scores above the cutoff point for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A regression analysis revealed that individual’s attitudes toward animals mediated the effect of culling experience on PTSD symptoms. However, mental health care for the workers has been insufficient: 70.2% of the respondents were willing to get mental treatment to deal with the distress they underwent from culling. We conclude that engagement in culling has a detrimental effect on the workers’ mental health, and that they should be provided with systematic mental health care. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T15:30:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d78423cc0107441c991961ef33e6e591 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T15:30:58Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-d78423cc0107441c991961ef33e6e5912023-11-20T17:41:05ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152020-10-011010192010.3390/ani10101920Traumatic Stress of Frontline Workers in Culling Livestock Animals in South KoreaHyomin Park0Myung Sun Chun1Yunjeong Joo2Department of Urban Sociology, University of Seoul, 163 Seoulsiripdaero, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02504, KoreaResearch Institute for Veterinary Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, KoreaThe Institute for Social Development and Policy, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, KoreaThe last decade brought several devastating outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and avian influenza in South Korea, which had been handled through preventive culling, despite the controversy surrounding its efficiency and ethical considerations. Notably, the lack of regulations on culling processes has exposed the workers to extremely harsh working conditions. This study investigates the effect of culling jobs on the mental health of the frontline workers, based on 200 samples collected through a web-based survey conducted on participants with experience of culling tasks. Culling was found to have a powerful negative effect on the workers’ mental health, including high depression rates. Of those surveyed, 83.7% answered that the working conditions were intense, and 74.5% showed scores above the cutoff point for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A regression analysis revealed that individual’s attitudes toward animals mediated the effect of culling experience on PTSD symptoms. However, mental health care for the workers has been insufficient: 70.2% of the respondents were willing to get mental treatment to deal with the distress they underwent from culling. We conclude that engagement in culling has a detrimental effect on the workers’ mental health, and that they should be provided with systematic mental health care.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/10/1920cullingmental healthpost-traumatic stress disorderPTSDdepressionanimal disease |
| spellingShingle | Hyomin Park Myung Sun Chun Yunjeong Joo Traumatic Stress of Frontline Workers in Culling Livestock Animals in South Korea Animals culling mental health post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD depression animal disease |
| title | Traumatic Stress of Frontline Workers in Culling Livestock Animals in South Korea |
| title_full | Traumatic Stress of Frontline Workers in Culling Livestock Animals in South Korea |
| title_fullStr | Traumatic Stress of Frontline Workers in Culling Livestock Animals in South Korea |
| title_full_unstemmed | Traumatic Stress of Frontline Workers in Culling Livestock Animals in South Korea |
| title_short | Traumatic Stress of Frontline Workers in Culling Livestock Animals in South Korea |
| title_sort | traumatic stress of frontline workers in culling livestock animals in south korea |
| topic | culling mental health post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD depression animal disease |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/10/1920 |
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