Low back pain is the worldwide leading cause of disability and, even though women's pain experience is more severe, frequent, and enduring, female patients are often underdiagnosed and undertreated. Health professionals' gender stereotypes and social norms may underlie the downgrading of pain. This pilot study aimed to examine the legitimation of low back pain by health professionals in relation to the sex of the patient as well as their gender awareness and the relationship between them. This study had a cross-sectional design. Eighty health professionals and students selected by convenience answered a 4-part online questionnaire. The eligibility criteria for participants were: aged >18 years, students in the last course of nursing/medicine or a physician/nurse, and Spanish-speaking. The questionnaire comprises: (1) a between-subjects virtual clinical low back pain case with four random versions (female/male patient and evidence/non-evidence of pathology); (2) the Spanish version of Nijmegen Gender Awareness Scale (S-NGAMS); (3) Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI); and (4) Ambivalence toward Men Inventory (AMI). The total score of legitimation of low back pain correlated negatively with gender role ideology and sexism scales (when the virtual patient was female), as well as the subscales of willingness to offer support and credibility. Both sexism and gender role ideology could undermine the legitimation of low back pain, the willingness to offer support, and credibility only in female patients. The results showed a possible gender bias in low back pain assessment in health professionals. Low gender sensitivity and high sexism must be treated as modifiable risk factors for health inequities in pain care.

Many workers contribute to the success of animal welfare and study outcomes in biomedical research. However, the professional quality of life (ProQoL) of those who work with laboratory animals has not been explored in Spain. To this end, we adapted the ProQoL scale to the Spanish population working with laboratory animals. Participants were contacted by email and asked to complete an anonymous on-line questionnaire. The study comprised a total of 498 participants, 12.4% welfare officers/veterinarians, 19.5% caretaker/technicians, 13.9% principal investigators, 20.7% investigators, 13.6% research technicians, and 19.9% PhD students. The adapted scale revealed very good reliability and internal validity, providing information about two different subscales, compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. Animal-facility personnel showed higher total ProQoL and compassion-satisfaction scores than researchers; PhD students showed the lowest scores. Thus, our results indicate that job category is a contributing factor in perceived professional quality of life. We observed that compassion satisfaction is negatively associated with the perceived animal stress/pain. Participants reporting poorer compassion satisfaction also reported lower social-support scores. Overall, our ProQoL scale is a useful tool for analyzing the professional quality of life in the Spanish population, and may help to design future interventions to improve workplace wellbeing in Spain and other Spanish-speaking populations.

The relationship between humans and their pets has long fascinated researchers, particularly in exploring how attachment varies according to the type of pet. Cats and dogs exhibit unique behavioral and social traits that influence the dynamics of human–pet relationships. Moreover, specific human characteristics have been found to affect this attachment. Our study examines the human factors that influence pet attachment among cat and dog owners in the Basque Country, located in northern Spain. By investigating these elements, our research aims to enhance the understanding of how human factors shape the human–animal bond. The study included a total of 202 participants, of whom 66.8% were dog owners, and 74.8% identified as women, with ages ranging from 18 to 74 years. Consistent with many previous studies, our results indicate that attachment is generally stronger with dogs compared to cats and that owner’s characteristics such as being female, younger, not living with children, and the amount of time spent with pets on weekends are linked to stronger attachments to pets.

Animal facility personnel provide the husbandry and care of laboratory animals. We aimed to investigate their work-related quality of life, empathy and mental well-being. Participants living in Spain were contacted by email and asked to complete an anonymous online questionnaire, in which they answered the Professional Quality of Life scale, the Cognitive and affective empathy test, the Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, and their perceived human–animal interaction. Participants were asked whether they were receiving psychological therapy or were taking anxiolytics, hypnotics or antidepressant medication. The study comprised 80 participants. No differences were observed related to personal or professional variables. Participants working with small carnivores reported higher total empathy, and those working with non-human primates reported higher emotional comprehension. Higher human–animal interaction was reported by participants working with small carnivores, farm animals and non-human primates. More than half of the participants reported high levels of mental well-being, positively correlated with emotional comprehension, emphatic joy and compassion satisfaction. Participants working with farm animals reported higher levels of secondary traumatic stress that was positively correlated with human–animal interaction and negatively with mental well-being. Most participants reported low–average levels of burnout, which was negatively correlated with mental well-being. The percentage of animal facility personnel in psychotherapy was higher than in the general population, and the consumption of anxiolytics was a little lower and antidepressants higher. Overall, our results indicate that animal-facility personnel who felt stress or worse mental well-being were in therapy and took medication to improve their condition.