Psychological resilience of Western Australian police officers: relationship between resilience, coping style, psychological functioning and demographics (original) (raw)
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Fostering Resilience among the Police
Police officers are often mandated to respond to extremely stressful and potentially traumatic situations over the course of their careers . Research has shown that occupational stress and trauma exposure has a negative impact on police officers' health and wellness (Violanti et al., 2005). Police officers are expected to respond to critical incidents and resolve challenging situations effectively despite routine exposure to severe stress. Even though local and national governments invest a vast amount of money in police tactical training and equipment, resilience building has not been a major component of police training. This paper aims to open a dialogue about the importance of mental preparedness training as a means of enhancing police resilience in the line of duty. The authors discuss the pioneering work of scholars (e.g., who developed research initiatives to facilitate mental preparedness among police officers. Clinical and police training applications of the aforementioned research work, as well as future directions of such outcomes are discussed.
Interlinking Police Officers’ Operational Stress and Level of Resiliency
Psychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2024
Police officers are among the professionals known to be most exposed to critical incidents. In their quest for public safety, peace and order, they need to combat work-related stresses. This research sought to analyze the significant relationship between the operational stress and resiliency among the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB) in Region 02, Philippines, specifically to determine the levels of their operational stress and resiliency (in terms of compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary trauma stress). A descriptive-correlation research design was used to answer the objectives of the study. The Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (McCreary & Thompson, 2006) and the Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire (Stamm, 2009) were utilized to gather the necessary data. Frequency counts, percentages, computed mean, t-test, f-test and chi-square were used to illustrate the data gathered. The RMFB have low level of operational stress, moderate level of resiliency in burnout and secondary trauma stress. A significant relationship between operational stress and resiliency was evident. It can therefore be concluded that to have the capacity to recover from operational stress, there should be high compassion satisfaction combined with moderate levels of burnout and secondary trauma stress. This embodies a more positive behavioral outcome to recuperate from a stressful situation. It is recommended to consider conducting a routine assessment of police officers’ operational stress as basis for an intervention program.
Correlates of Resilience in Police Officers from England and Pakistan: A Cross National Study
2013
IntroductionTrauma is an unpredictable emotional response to an unpleasant event (Vincent, 2004). It is likely to experience shock or denial immediately after the incident/experience. Other emotional experiences include flashback memories, vulnerability to stress and psychical discomfort (nausea or headaches). Policing is one of the professions which are highly vulnerable towards psychological trauma. This is due to the fact that the very nature of police work includes exposure to unpleasant stimuli such as dead bodies and investigating crime sites. A substantial amount of literature has investigated several indicators to police stress. Most of these studies have identified Nature of trauma experiences and their management may vary across cultures and individuals (Brown, 1994, Peterson, 2006). Culture shapes the way people use their resources for optimal health and benefits. Although an increasing number of researchers are looking at the coping strategies appropriate with the nature...
Annals of Spiru Haret University. Economic Series,, 2022
This study evaluates the impacts of work stress, risk-taking propensity, and resilience on psychological wellbeing in Nigeria's Police Force. Its sample was extracted from four (4) police stations in Ibadan, Oyo State of Nigeria. They are the Iyaganku, Eleyele, Orita Challenge, and Iwo Road testing ground police stations. This study has adopted a cross-sectional survey method, where the current scholar randomly distributed the study's questionnaires. Nonetheless, from the 350 questionnaires floated, 319 were suitable for study and analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS version 27). The present study conducted standard and hierarchical multiple regression analysis in testing the stated hypotheses and concludes that work stress and that government make provisions for a salary increase, incentives, organizational support programs, and initiatives that can strengthen the coping styles of police officers for better psychological health and wellbeing.
BMJ Open, 2020
Introduction Law enforcement involves exposure to threatening situations and traumatic events that place police officers at risk for negative physical and mental health outcomes. Resilience support, among other elements of training, may help mitigate these risks, yet little is known about which aspects of resilience support help officers achieve better health and quality of life outcomes. Methods and analysis This review will consider all literature that examines the links between resilience support, physical/mental health and quality of life outcomes for police officers in five Anglosphere nations: Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. This review will include all literature (including those that show null or negative links) involving any public policing agency that has a formal rank structure and includes a localized, uniformed emergency response function. Resilience support may include, but is not limited to: tools, policies, models, frameworks, programmes and organ...
2013
A body of literature exists that emphasises the importance of understanding attitudes and trends towards seeking psychological support in order to boost effective trauma management. In the context of police work, appropriate understanding and utilisation of support systems can help to gain mental preparedness and steadiness required to boost performance. The research reported here used a mixed methodological approach. Thematic and statistical analysis indicated that overall, the majority of police officers questioned preferred speaking to friends and family for psychological support or engaging in religious activities rather than consulting psychological services. A few of the police employed other techniques such as reading self-help books, and seeking religious guidance. Cross comparative analysis of anecdotal responses suggested significant themes around religion, affirmations, positive outlook, and trauma awareness. Importance and challenges related to individual differences in the use of psychological services are highlighted, along with recommendations to modify existing policies. These findings are clearly relevant to police, emergency, and relief workers.
Resilience Factors Among Police Investigators: Hardiness-commitment a Unique Contributor
The aim of this study was to explore the role of individual and contextual buffers against the effects of work stress among police investigators. 156 Norwegian police investigators were assessed on the predictor variables psychological hardiness, work engagement, social support, and meaningfulness, and on the outcome variables of burnout, subjective health complaints, and self-reported sick leave. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that psychological hardiness predicted the variance in burnout beyond that of work engagement, social support, and meaningfulness. When the investigators were divided into two groups based on their field, investigators of assault crime showed higher scores than the group consisting of forensics and investigators of fire, financial, and environmental crime on the variables psychological hardiness, social support, meaningfulness, and subjective health complaints. No differences between the groups were found on burnout, sickness absence, and work engagement. The findings show the importance of resilience factors for coping with work stress, with the commitment dimension of hardiness being particularly important.
Previous research by this group identified gender interactions between some protective factors and psychological distress in police officers. This study extends this result to include a larger sample of police officers and a more comprehensive list of protective factors. These results confirm the conclusion that the commitment dimension of hardiness appears to have a stronger protective association with psychological distress among women. Furthermore, an avoidant coping style appears to be somewhat more positively associated with psychological distress among women. The personality trait of openness was also positively associated more strongly with PTSD symptoms in women than in men, while the trait of agreeableness was significantly protective in women and not in men. Hostility was generally positively associated with psychological distress with stronger association for PTSD symptoms and hostility in women.
Police officers are at particular risk of stress when compared to people in other occupational groups. A compounding factor isthat police are prone to the use of avoidant coping strategies when attempting to deal with this stress. Evidence suggests that‘‘anti-avoidance’’ strategies, of acceptance, mindfulness and emotional awareness, are more effective ways of coping, and arelinked to both mental health and personal effectiveness. This study followed 60 trainee police officers from the recruit phaseinto the workplace to determine if these processes predicted more positive mental health and wellbeing in police recruits after1 year of service. Mindfulness predicted depression at follow-up, while emotion identification skill predicted general mentalhealth. These results suggest that police officers and police organisations may benefit from interventions aimed at developingand promoting mindfulness and emotion identification.
Resilience Training Program Reduces Physiological and Psychological Stress in Police Officers
Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 2012
Research suggests that police work is among the most stressful occupations in the world and officers typically suffer a variety of physiological, psychological, and behavioral effects and symptoms. Officers operating under severe or chronic stress are likely to be at greater risk of error, accidents, and overreactions that can compromise their performance, jeopardize public safety, and pose significant liability costs to the organization. Therefore, this study explored the nature and degree of physiological activation typically experienced of officers on the job and the impact of the Coherence Advantage resilience and performance enhancement training on a group of police officers from Santa Clara County, California.Areas assessed included vitality, emotional well-being, stress coping and interpersonal skills, work performance, workplace effectiveness and climate, family relationships, and physiological recalibration following acute stressors. Physiological measurements were obtained...