Attitudes of the police towards individuals with a known psychiatric diagnosis (original) (raw)
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Psychological Applications and Trends 2021
Police officers are some of the first professionals that might have direct interaction with individuals with mental illnesses. Statistics show that from 2017 to 2020 about 3986 individuals in the United States were fatally shot by police officers (Statista, 2021). These reports indicate that at least 25% and as many as 50% of all fatal shootings involved individuals with untreated severe mental illness. The purpose of this pilot study was to test the effectiveness of a five-day psycho-educational mental health awareness training in enhancing law enforcement officers' knowledge about mental illness, and their perceptions towards mentally ill individuals using a pretest-posttest design. The Community Attitudes Towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) scale was used to measure participants'four mental health attitudinal domains-authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness, and community mental health ideology. The results indicate that at the completion of the training there was an increase in participants' confidence about their knowledge of the mentally ill individuals and mental illness conditions. However, the results also indicate a slight decrease in participants' mental illness social restrictiveness sentiment after the completion of the training. Additionally, the results also show a correlation between demographic variables and some of the domains. Implications for practice are discussed.
An Evaluation of Police Officer's Attitudes and Labels Toward People with Mental Illness
2021
The objective of this research was to determine whether the type of adjective used to describe a person with mental illness will change based on the label provided. A MANOVA was utilized to determine if these labels were significant between 17 different sets of adjectives. A post hoc test was utilized to determine if there was a significant difference between the labels for each adjective provided The outcome of the analysis determined that 7 adjectives were significantly impacted by the labels utilized to describe a person with mental illness. Overall, the label utilized to describe a person with mental illness is only significant for a small portion of the adjectives utilized within this study. iii
Suspicious minds: Police Attitudes to Mental Ill Health
International Journal of Law and Public Administration, 2018
Policing and mental ill health are inextricably entwined. The police have a role to respond to distressed persons and depending on the circumstances act as mental health practitioners or law enforcement officers. Policing can have an impact on the mental health of those delivering the service. Those working within policing will either experience, work alongside and/or manage colleagues with mental ill health. Therefore it is important that the attitudes of police officers and police staff to mental ill health are established. The research employs the Time to Change Survey to bench mark police attitudes against the general public. Results indicate that police officers/staff hold similar attitudes to the public. However police officers are less supportive of community based interventions. Police data portrays an organisation where mental health related stigma persists, where discussing or seeking help is avoided and having a mental health issue seen as career destroying.
In developing countries, the police are often required to intervene in matters relating to the mentally ill. They also constitute an important point in pathways to care. Negative attitudes towards the mentally ill limit the effectiveness of the police in facilitating care. This study sought to determine the attitudes of police officers and men towards individuals with mental illness as a way of guiding the development of appropriate anti-stigma interventions. A cross sectional study of police officers and men (n=219) was undertaken between July and August 2012 in Benin-City, Nigeria, using the self-administered Community Attitudes towards Mental Illness (CAMI) questionnaire. Negative attitudes were prevalent among the police surveyed. They were authoritarian and less benevolent in their views regarding mental illness and the mentally ill. They were also majorly against ideas to incorporate mental health care in the community. Married policemen and those with greater than 12 years of formal education were found to be more benevolent in their attitudes towards the mentally ill. Clearly, anti-stigma campaigns involving educational sessions are needed in the Police force.
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
Police work is a high-risk profession that can cause mental health conditions. With increasing sickness levels and falling police numbers, it is essential prompt mental health treatment be implemented. The study aims to explore institutional negativity and stigma in the police force towards mental ill health. Semi-structured interviews attended by five police officers with thematic analysis captured (i) police culture, (ii) the stigma of mental illness, (iii) disclosure of mental illness and (iv) breaking down barriers. Findings indicate police culture and attitudes to mental health may contribute to the causes of psychological illness, rather than the nature of the job itself. Increased education and awareness surrounding mental health have been shown to be fundamental in how an officer reacts to stress, but change is needed at a managerial level. Future research needs to explore the effects of mental health stigma on ethnicity and gender in the police force.
The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles, 2021
Policing can be injurious to the mental health of those delivering the service. The causes can be operational, organisational or a mixture of both. Mental health related stigma is prevalent within policing; thus, help seeking is avoided. Those who do seek help are often thought to be malingerers. Managers are considered to be ill equipped to identify and support those at risk. The processes and policies that are meant to support recovery do not meet the needs of the officers and staff living and working with mental ill health. Consequently, disclosing a mental health issue is seen as career destroying.
Police Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Mental Health Treatment
Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 2021
Public safety personnel (PSP), including police officers, often work in high-stress environments that expose them to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTE). As a result, PSP are at a higher risk than most other occupational roles for the development of new or worsening mental health concerns, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder, general or social anxiety disorder, and substance use disorders (Carleton et al., Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 63(1):54–64, 2018; Haugen et al., Journal of Psychiatric Research 94:218–229, 2017; Velazquez and Hernandez, Policing: An International Journal 42(4):711–724, 2019). Given these higher rates, research examining how to support the mental health of individuals in these occupations and how to improve our understanding of mental health help-seeking beliefs is critical. Consequently, the overall objective of the current study was to examine predictors of help-seeking attitudes among a group of police off...
Police Officers’ Ability in Recognizing Relevant Mental Health Conditions
Frontiers in Psychology, 2021
The recognition of certain mental health conditions is important as this requires police officers to communicate and behave in an adjusted manner with affected individuals. The objective of the present study was to test police officers’ knowledge about mental health symptoms as a component of their mental health literacy (MHL) and to examine if police officers’ perceived knowledge corresponds with their actual knowledge. A questionnaire was used to assess for MHL representing mental health conditions which occur frequently in police requests (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress disorders, and emotionally unstable personality disorder). Furthermore, the questionnaire assessed the frequency of police requests, the officers’ perceived knowledge regarding mental disorders and their sense of feeling sufficiently trained to deal with these kinds of requests. Eighty-two police officers participated in the study. Police officers’ actual knowledge about mental ...
Commentary: Police officers and persons with mental illness
The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 2013
Silverstone et al. present a study outlining the success of a novel training program implemented in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to train police officers to interact with persons who may have a psychiatric disorder. The training was well accepted by the participants and was novel in its use of professional actors to portray persons with mental illness across six model scenarios. I outline the need for such training and comment on certain aspects of this particular program, including overall design, usefulness, and limitations.