Police Stress and Deleterious Outcomes: Efforts Towards Improving Police Mental Health (original) (raw)
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suggests that being shot in the line of duty or the shooting of a partner are often ranked by officers, despite their infrequent occurrence, as the most stressful field events. This study was designed to elucidate factors within the organizational structure of law enforcement, other than the incident itself, which promote ineffective coping and increases in PTSD-like symptomology in police officers. This study found that both police officers, and the organization in which they work, practice predominately ineffective emotion-focused coping strategies following an officer-involved shooting. Possible links between organizational behavior and long-term post-traumatic symptomology were discovered; it appears that officers have readily available models of poor coping responses merely by imitating the behavior of their organization.
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Law enforcement officers (LEOs) experience stressful and traumatic events more often than the general population. Though these events negatively impact mental health and wellbeing, LEOs experience barriers to seeking psychological therapy and support to address these emotional burdens. This scoping review asks the question "What are the factors preventing law enforcement officers from seeking mental health services?". Eligibility criteria included literature focusing on Canadian and United States LEO access and willingness to participate in mental health interventions. Using PubMed, PsycNet, and Scopus, we found 17 publications on this topic. We charted the data using components of grounded theory and uncovered components of the social cognitive theory's role in accessing services. Overall, LEOs mental health services utilization barriers include negative perceptions and low mental health knowledge, concerns of confidentiality and job consequences, and lack of social support. Interventions can be developed at the environmental, behavioral, and individual levels to address these complex factors preventing LEOs seeking mental health services.
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In addition to high-risk and high-stress events that police officers routinely encounter, many are also exposed to extreme traumatic exposures or disasters caused by nature (eg. Hurricanes) and human action (e.g., terrorist attacks or plane crashes). These exposures can result in a variety of adverse reactions including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acute stress disorder, major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders. Understanding and accurately measuring the burden of disease arising from involvement in extreme events, on policing organizations and individual police officers is critical for policy makers and those who plan and deliver services. This systematic review synthesizes existing research on large-scale disasters, in order to further our understanding of how extreme events impact the mental health of police officers. The results found variability in the reported rates of mental disorder; however, there are some clear trends. Overall, the rates of PTSD among police officers that are consistently lower than those of civilians affected by the same disaster, and are lower than other occupations. This undoubtedly speaks to the resilience and training of members of policing organizations that prepare them for this work. Studies also demonstrate that reported distress in terms of acute stress disorder, anxiety and depression, continues to rise in some groups as time-elapsed from the event lengthens; suggesting a need to ensure that mental health supports are provided at later stages after the event.
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Recent Canadian research indicates 44.5% of public safety personnel (PSP) self-report symptoms consistent with at least one type of mental disorder; however, researchers have typically not focused on the mental wellness of civilians working within PSP sectors. Given that the number of civilians working in Canadian law enforcement organizations has doubled since 2003, with more than 30% of all police personnel in Canada being civilians, more research is needed to support this understudied sub-population within law enforcement. The current study used a survey to compare civilian members (n = 80) and sworn (n = 112) police officers working within a law enforcement organization on issues regarding mental disorders, perceived barriers to care and help-seeking behaviours. Results indicate that civilian members self-report a high prevalence of mental disorders and lower resilience compared with police officers in the same organization. Civilians reported similar barriers to accessing menta...
International Journal of Stress Management, 11, 227-244, 2004
Zealand's police, fire, and ambulance services. Data were analyzed with structural equation modeling techniques. The police model was not replicable across the samples, indicative of the unique experience of occupational stress for police officers. A 2nd model best described the fire and ambulance data, indicating no difference in stress experiences for these respondents. Organizational and traumatic stress reactions were predictive of psychological strain to similar extents. However, organizational stressors predicted job satisfaction to a far greater extent than did trauma symptomatology. The management of occupational stress, psychological health, and job satisfaction within emergency service workers is discussed.