The objective of this study was to determine what factors are associated with behavioral health in veterinary disaster responders.

An online cross-sectional survey was distributed via snowball sampling. Results were analyzed using chi-square analyses.

Responses from 237 veterinarians were analyzed. Being involved in more than 1 disaster event was associated with higher anxiety and/or depression (43.4% vs 28.6%, respectively), difficulty with relationships (28.1% vs 14.3%, respectively), and a greater prevalence of sleep problems (44.6% vs 28.0%, respectively) compared to only being involved in 1 event. Veterinarians that were deployed longer than 2 months had the highest prevalence of anxiety and/or depression (43.9%) and sleep problems (50.0%). Veterinarians that received behavioral health training before deployment had lower rates of anxiety and/or depression (27.8% vs 42.9%, respectively) compared to those who did not receive training. Respondents involved with depopulation had the highest rates of anxiety and/or depression (66.7%) and sleep problems (58.1%).

Factors associated with behavioral health outcomes included the number and length of deployments, receiving behavioral health training, and being involved in depopulation. To reduce the risk of behavioral health outcomes, interventions such as time-off and behavioral health support are needed.