IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i18p6891-d416638.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Factors that Influence the Decision to Seek Help in a Police Population

Author

Listed:
  • Carolyn Burns

    (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
    Burns Psychological Services, Langley, BC V2Y 0E2, Canada)

  • Marla Buchanan

    (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Carolyn Burns & Marla Buchanan, 2020. "Factors that Influence the Decision to Seek Help in a Police Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-26, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6891-:d:416638
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6891/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6891/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Konstantinos Papazoglou & Brooke McQuerrey Tuttle, 2018. "Fighting Police Trauma: Practical Approaches to Addressing Psychological Needs of Officers," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(3), pages 21582440187, August.
    2. White, Michael D. & Cooper, Jonathon A. & Saunders, Jessica & Raganella, Anthony J., 2010. "Motivations for becoming a police officer: Re-assessing officer attitudes and job satisfaction after six years on the street," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 520-530, July.
    3. Marian Pitel & Konstantinos Papazoglou & Brooke Tuttle, 2018. "Giving Voice to Officers Who Experienced Life-Threatening Situations in the Line of Duty: Lessons Learned About Police Survival," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(3), pages 21582440188, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Konstantinos Papazoglou & Mari Koskelainen & Natalie Stuewe, 2019. "Examining the Relationship Between Personality Traits, Compassion Satisfaction, and Compassion Fatigue Among Police Officers," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(1), pages 21582440188, January.
    2. Lorraine Smith-MacDonald & Liana Lentz & David Malloy & Suzette Brémault-Phillips & R. Nicholas Carleton, 2021. "Meat in a Seat: A Grounded Theory Study Exploring Moral Injury in Canadian Public Safety Communicators, Firefighters, and Paramedics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Jianxin Wang & Feng Jiang & Xin Fang, 2024. "Perspectives on policing education and careers: insights from undergraduate students of China’s police academies," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Mantji Juliah Modula & Ellen Mokgobola Mathapo-Thobakgale & Champion N. Nyoni & Ronelle Jansen, 2024. "Strategies for Coping with Occupational Trauma: A Scoping Review of the Police Officer Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(7), pages 1-14, July.
    5. Ines Testoni & Davide Viezzoli & Gianmarco Biancalani & Maria Armezzani & Adriano Zamperini, 2022. "Competent Witnesses: How Penitentiary Workers Explain the Violence in Italian Prisons during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-15, October.
    6. Jerry A. Jacobs & Seher Ahmad & Linda J. Sax, 2017. "Planning a Career in Engineering: Parental Effects on Sons and Daughters," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-25, January.
    7. Frenkel, Marie Ottilie & Giessing, Laura & Egger-Lampl, Sebastian & Hutter, Vana & Oudejans, Raoul R.D. & Kleygrewe, Lisanne & Jaspaert, Emma & Plessner, Henning, 2021. "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on European police officers: Stress, demands, and coping resources," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Andra Cătălina Roșca & Alexandru Mateizer & Cristina-Ioana Dan & Evangelia Demerouti, 2021. "Job Demands and Exhaustion in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Work Meaning. A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-13, September.
    9. Jovi Sulistiawan & Massoud Moslehpour & Pei-Kuan Lin, 2022. "Linking Passion for Work and Emotional Exhaustion in Indonesian Firefighters: The Role of Work–Family Conflict," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-17, November.
    10. Cho, Eunae & Chen, Miaohua & Toh, Shi Min & Ang, Jansen, 2021. "Roles of effort and reward in well-being for police officers in Singapore: The effort-reward imbalance model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    11. Cristina Civilotti & Giulia Di Fini & Daniela Acquadro Maran, 2021. "Trauma and Coping Strategies in Police Officers: A Quantitative-Qualitative Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-13, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6891-:d:416638. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.