The last decade brought several devastating outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and avian influenza in South Korea, which had been handled through preventive culling, despite the controversy surrounding its efficiency and ethical considerations. Notably, the lack of regulations on culling processes has exposed the workers to extremely harsh working conditions. This study investigates the effect of culling jobs on the mental health of the frontline workers, based on 200 samples collected through a web-based survey conducted on participants with experience of culling tasks. Culling was found to have a powerful negative effect on the workers’ mental health, including high depression rates. Of those surveyed, 83.7% answered that the working conditions were intense, and 74.5% showed scores above the cutoff point for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A regression analysis revealed that individual’s attitudes toward animals mediated the effect of culling experience on PTSD symptoms. However, mental health care for the workers has been insufficient: 70.2% of the respondents were willing to get mental treatment to deal with the distress they underwent from culling. We conclude that engagement in culling has a detrimental effect on the workers’ mental health, and that they should be provided with systematic mental health care.

中文翻译：

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韩国饲养家畜的一线工人的创伤压力

在过去的十年中，尽管有关于其效率和道德考量的争议，但在韩国还是发生了几次毁灭性的手足口病和禽流感暴发。值得注意的是，缺乏有关剔除过程的法规使工人面临极端恶劣的工作条件。这项研究基于对有淘汰任务经验的参与者进行的基于网络的调查收集的200个样本，调查了淘汰工作对一线工人心理健康的影响。发现剔除对工人的心理健康有很大的负面影响，包括高抑郁症。在接受调查的人中，有83.7％的人回答说工作条件很紧张，有74％回答。5％的人在创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的得分高于临界点。回归分析显示，个人对动物的态度介导了淘汰经验对PTSD症状的影响。但是，对工人的心理保健服务仍然不足：70.2％的受访者愿意接受心理治疗以应对他们因淘汰而遭受的困扰。我们得出的结论是，从事淘汰活动会对工人的心理健康产生不利影响，因此应该为他们提供系统的心理保健。2％的受访者愿意接受心理治疗以应对他们因淘汰而遭受的困扰。我们得出的结论是，从事淘汰活动会对工人的心理健康产生不利影响，因此应该为他们提供系统的心理保健。2％的受访者愿意接受心理治疗以应对他们因淘汰而遭受的困扰。我们得出的结论是，从事淘汰活动会对工人的心理健康产生不利影响，因此应该为他们提供系统的心理保健。