'Part of the team as opposed to watching from the outside': Critical incident study of autistic veterinary surgeons' workdays.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Autistic individuals experience differences in sensory processing, communication and executive function, which may affect their experience of the workplace. We investigated UK-based autistic clinical veterinary surgeons' experiences to establish contributing factors to a good or difficult workday.

Methods

Purposive sampling was used to conduct semi-structured qualitative interviews with 15 autistic veterinary surgeons. A critical incident technique was applied to explore the characteristics of a good and a difficult workday. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to identify recurrent themes and sub-themes in the narratives.

Results

Five major themes were identified as contributing to a difficult workday for autistic veterinarians: professional interactions,

SUBMITTER: Pickles K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11827692 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature