Stigmatizing Attitudes Toward Police Officers Seeking Psychological Services

Police officers face many competing pressures and demands. Exposure to potentially traumatic incidents and significant job-related stressors can place many at higher risk of developing physical and mental health problems. The police culture exerts a pronounced influence on officers, preventing some from asking for or receiving assistance. The stigma of being perceived as weak or incompetent, concerns about being labelled unfit for duty, and worry that accessing psychological support will impact future career advancement can affect the decision to seek help. The Enhanced Critical Incident Technique was utilized to investigate the following research question: What helps or hinders the decision to access psychological services in a police population? Qualitative interviews were conducted with 20 serving Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in the lower mainland of British Columbia, Canada. The findings encompass five main themes: the importance of systemic factors, access to information and education, quality and influence of relationships, individual characteristics, and organizational processes that will increase the likelihood of accessing mental health services. The results contribute to the empirical literature by enhancing what is known about elements that influence an officers’ decision to seek psychological services, and factors that can enable officers to overcome barriers.

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“attitudes of the Spanish Police Towards Patients With Schizophrenia or Depressive Disorders”

10.21203/rs.3.rs-882723/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Miguel Mengual-Pujante ◽

Inés Morán-Sánchez ◽

Aurelio Luna-Ruiz ◽

María-Dolores Pérez-Cárceles

Keyword(s):

Police Officers ◽

Depressive Disorders ◽

Psychiatric Patients ◽

The Elderly ◽

Mental Illnesses ◽

Professional Career ◽

Attribution Questionnaire ◽

Police Action ◽

Stigmatizing Attitudes ◽

National Police

Abstract Background: Police officers have become an important part of psychiatric patients´ care; however, few studies have assessed the Police´s attitudes toward these patients. Our aim is to analyze the effect of the stigma associated with different mental illnesses on police officers.Methods: the attitudes of 927 officers of the Spanish National Police Force towards a person with schizophrenia or depressive disorder in the role of person in need of assistance, victim, witness, or suspect, were assessed by means of the Attribution Questionnaire adapted to the police context. Different socio-demographic variables were also collected. Results: Police officers expressed more willingness to help, felt more pity and considered psychiatric patients to be less responsible for their situation than people who were not described as being mentally ill. They also showed increased feelings of anger and avoidance, greater danger perception and need for segregation and coercion for medical treatment, especially in schizophrenia. Being a woman, the elderly and having more working experience, are associated with less stigmatizing attitudes among officers. Conclusions: Police officers have certain attitudes about mental illness particularly schizophrenia, that require special attention, as they may disrupt police action. We found several factors associated with the persistence of these stigmatizing attitudes in the Police that can guide us to implement training programs to promote attitude changing especially at the beginning of the professional career.

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The Stigma of Suicide Scale

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000156 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 34 (1) ◽

pp. 13-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 82

Author(s):

Philip J. Batterham ◽

Alison L. Calear ◽

Helen Christensen

Keyword(s):

Construct Validity ◽

Psychometric Properties ◽

Factor Structure ◽

Internal Consistency ◽

Concurrent Validity ◽

Online Survey ◽

National University ◽

Stigmatizing Attitudes ◽

High Internal Consistency ◽

At Home

Background: There are presently no validated scales to adequately measure the stigma of suicide in the community. The Stigma of Suicide Scale (SOSS) is a new scale containing 58 descriptors of a “typical” person who completes suicide. Aims: To validate the SOSS as a tool for assessing stigma toward suicide, to examine the scale’s factor structure, and to assess correlates of stigmatizing attitudes. Method: In March 2010, 676 staff and students at the Australian National University completed the scale in an online survey. The construct validity of the SOSS was assessed by comparing its factors with factors extracted from the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (SOQ). Results: Three factors were identified: stigma, isolation/depression, and glorification/normalization. Each factor had high internal consistency and strong concurrent validity with the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire. More than 25% of respondents agreed that people who suicided were “weak,” “reckless,” or “selfish.” Respondents who were female, who had a psychology degree, or who spoke only English at home were less stigmatizing. A 16-item version of the scale also demonstrated robust psychometric properties. Conclusions: The SOSS is the first attitudes scale designed to directly measure the stigma of suicide in the community. Results suggest that psychoeducation may successfully reduce stigma.

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