Wellbeing and the One Health workforce: a scoping review

The World Health Organization promotes integration of human and veterinary healthcare in a “One Health” approach. Achieving this goal depends on sustainable health workforces, yet both sectors face shortages that are partially driven by poor worker wellbeing. Opportunities for interprofessional learning on vocational wellbeing between the two sectors have been overlooked, and studying human and veterinary health professionals together could provide evidence to support such initiatives. The extent to which wellbeing has been examined in concurrent samples of human and veterinary healthcare workers was unclear, so we conducted a scoping review using JBI methodology. Our analysis of 47 investigations highlighted common professional challenges in the human and veterinary health sectors, although narrow conceptualsations of vocational wellbeing, over-reliance on observational studies, limited diversity of professions investigated, and insufficient theory development presented knowledge gaps. Future researchers should address these limitations to strengthen the evidence underpinning mutual learning on vocational wellbeing among human and veterinary healthcare workers. Doing so may enhance wellbeing for both groups and contribute to a more resilient One Health workforce.