Effects of a 1 year development programme for recently graduated veterinary professionals on personal and job resources: a combined quantitative and qualitative approach

BACKGROUND: The early years in professional practice are for many veterinary and medical professionals a period of great challenges and consequently increased stress levels. Personal resources appear to have a positive impact on the course of this transition period. Personal resources are defined as developable systems of positive beliefs about one’s self and the world that are generally linked to resilience. They are negatively related to burnout and positively and reciprocally to job resources, work engagement and job performance. With the aim of enhancing personal resources of recently graduated veterinarians, a 1 year multi-modular resources development programme was designed. This study was conducted to analyse: 1. if and how the development programme affected participants’ personal resources, and 2. if and how personal resources affected participants’ work characteristics and work engagement. RESULTS: ᅟ Quantitative study: Twenty-five participants and ten non-participants completed an online survey covering personal resources, job resources and work engagement at the start and finish of the programme. Results showed a significant increase of personal resources in participants for self-reported ratings of proactive behaviour (Effect Size =−0.4), self-efficacy (Effect Size =−0.6) and reflective behaviour (Effect Size =−0.6). Results of the control group were not significant, although some moderate effect sizes were found. Qualitative study: Additionally 16 semi-structured interviews with participants of the programme were taken 6 months after finishing the programme. Analysis of the interviews revealed that participants also developed other important personal resources namely self-acceptance, self-esteem, awareness of own influence and responsibility. The reflection process, which took place in the course of the programme, seemed to be a necessary step for the development of the other personal resources. According to participants of the resources development programme, the increase in personal resources also gave rise to an increase in job resources. CONCLUSION: The multi-modular resources development programme seems to support development of participants’ personal resources. Because personal resources are beneficial in improving well-being irrespective of where an individual starts working, it is important to give them explicit attention in educational settings. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-015-0627-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.