Patricia Eats, PhD Candidate, Mid-candidature Review Seminar, "Occupational wellbeing in subtropical dairy farming in the post-deregulation era: What role do on-farm human-animal relationships play in psychosocial health?"
Patricia’s advisors are Dr Bek Scotney, Prof Alan Tilbrook, Prof Kristen Lyons, Dr David Barber.
Abstract
Dairy farmers and workers occupations are traditionally labor-intensive, featuring significant human-animal interaction. Low industry staff retention rates are often attributed to demanding, difficult and traumatic workplace terms, with significant adverse impact on personal wellbeing a recognised effect in agricultural occupations. The role of stockperson wellbeing in their capacity to provide quality care for livestock has been used as justification for increasing automation, robotic and labor-saving strategies - despite a lack of academic knowledge of the psychosocial value of workplace human-animal relationships in dairy-farming. There is limited interdisciplinary research which has investigated the links between workplace human-animal relationships, psychosocial coping and career retention. Through the adoption of a mixed method approach which incorporates quantitative and qualitative techniques, this research has undertaken an exploration of how dairy farmers and workers in Australia’s subtropical dairy region think and feel about their jobs and working with cows. The research investigates coping styles and strategies used to combat occupational stress, and the impact these may have on both dairy farmer/worker wellbeing and stay or leave intentions. Questionnaire and interview data was sourced from industry-representatives from a range of geographic regions, genders, age groups, herd sizes and types. Results from this research indicate the importance of workplace human-animal relationships, and the contribution these relationships make to perceived job satisfaction and enjoyment in dairy occupations. Furthermore, this research investigates how human-animal relationships within the dairy industry influence career retention rates.
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