Table 3 Quotes from interviews. Capitals between brackets correspond to capitals in text. Numbers between brackets refer to participants in the study

A

“Swapping experiences with others and hearing their stories was very fruitful, how they, experienced their first years as vets, so to speak. Realizing that everybody has ups and downs and you aren’t the only one going around with uncertainties. I was thinking. well, it should get better every year, until you can do everything.” (1)

B

“Being a perfectionist is, like, not being allowed to make mistakes. That was more when I started work. Then you had the idea, my goodness, if I do this, then that happens and the animal dies, the client will be mad at me and then I’m a worthless vet.”(10)

“And I’ve learned to recognize my own thinking patterns and if I get into a negative spiral I’ve learned to recognize it and to get myself out of it. Or at least, I know roughly how to get out of it. I don’t know if I’ll get out of it but at least I can see when I am in it.”(5)

C

“As well, because I tell myself, OK, I do my work, I do my very best, I do it as well as I possibly can, so it’s less stressful if I make a wrong decision according to the owner, because I can still tell myself that I thought that was the best decision at the time and that’s why I made it.“(1)

D

“Yeah. like, especially that your own opinion counts and that if somebody has a big mouth and always shuts you down, it doesn’t mean that’s the truth, but you can say, OK, wait a minute, I think differently and that you dare to say it. You can just say calmly I don’t agree and this is why I don’t agree and it doesn’t have to lead to a conflict. Partly competence and partly realizing that my opinion counts too.” (4)

E

Refusing a request: “I realized that refusing a request is a good option and it’s OK. And that has directly to do with feeling guilty towards colleagues. At first I felt bad for saying no and now I know that if I don’t say no, I’ll have a bad day and that I’ll be communicating that to colleagues and clients who come in.” (2)

Taking responsibility: “It’s all about making sure you’ve got things sorted and that you act from a certain conviction. In any case, that you have influence on you own life, it’s not something that just happens, you can choose to say yes, no, OK, maybe, I do it this way or that way.” (4)

F

“….then I think that this has helped me to think more often, it will turn out better than I expect or it’ll be.” (8)

“When you see that it works it gives you more self-confidence. That is the outcome of it.” (16)

G

Decision authority: “With meetings and that, I usually said nothing because everybody had something to say and I thought, fine. Now I have a say.”(10)

Communication at an earlier stage: “Now, if I’m bothered about something, I’ll put it forward. At first I didn’t do that at all and then I thought it’s probably part and parcel of the job.” (1)

Improved work-life balance: “Yes. I can distance myself better from my work, still concerned with your patients and your work but being able to close the door, so to speak, and leave it behind.” (14)

Actively coping (with) high workload: “So, a whole lot of tasks which are given to me and I have to decide what has priority and what can wait. I used to get stressed out and now I can delegate better, I can say ‘no’ more easily to things. I can say I’ll do that in a bit but I’m finishing this first. Without feeling guilty about it. Eventually you find a way of communicating that to your colleagues without making them feel uncomfortable.“(2)

H

Show more leadership: “And I’ve learned that I must phrase my questions differently, that I should say. I’ve got such and such a patient and I want to do this or that, what would you do? That I first say what I want to do and only then ask what they want to do.”(1)

Making use of decision authority: “….. that we all have a discussion before making a decision and that I want to be involved in it. Yes, I like the feeling of involvement because it motivates my work.” (13)

I

“What the development programme has done is that, because you think about ‘how do I want my work’ and ‘how do I want my private life’, you get a broader perspective, so to say. The point is, you think “I’m a vet and that’s all”, and then it's rather limited. And when your perspective broadens, you realize there is much more you can do.”(14)