Conference paper
Promoting posttraumatic growth in police recruits: Preliminary results of a randomised controlled resilience intervention trial
Australian & New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference Book of Proceedings, pp.1-18
Australian & New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference (Gold Coast, Australia, 05-May-2014–07-May-2014)
Association for Sustainability in Business Inc.
2014
Abstract
Recent research has demonstrated that the same experiences that may elicit symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in emergency service personnel can also provide a catalyst for positive personal changes such as posttraumatic growth (PTG). In this research newly recruited police officers (N = 412) participated in a randomised control trial of a program specifically designed to promote mental health. On entry to the academy, new recruits were randomly allocated, by classrooms, to either a treatment as usual condition (i.e., existing psychoeducation program) or to the intervention group. The Promoting Resilient Officers (PRO) program is a resilience building intervention adapted from an earlier resilience building program in collaboration with the police service. The PRO program also includes additional components on trauma and PTG. The current research included the participants who had experienced trauma prior to or during the research period (N = 246). It
was hypothesised that participation in the PRO program would increase levels of PTG and lower levels of PTSD when compared to recruits in the control condition. Using multilevel modelling and post-hoc analyses, results indicated there were significantly higher levels of PTG across multiple dimensions when compared to the control group. There was no effect on PTSD symptoms with both conditions showing a floor effect. The research indicated the potential value of developing interventions that elicit reflections on the potential for positive as well as negative outcomes of experiencing traumatic and other highly challenging events.
Details
- Title
- Promoting posttraumatic growth in police recruits: Preliminary results of a randomised controlled resilience intervention trial
- Authors
- Jane Shakespeare-Finch (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyIan Shochet (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyColette Roos (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyCameron Craig (Author) - Queensland Police ServiceDeanne Armstrong (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyRoss Young (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyAstrid Wurfl (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
- Contributors
- Sarah L Dean (Editor) - Charles Sturt University
- Publication details
- Australian & New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference Book of Proceedings, pp.1-18
- Conference details
- Australian & New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference (Gold Coast, Australia, 05-May-2014–07-May-2014)
- Publisher
- Association for Sustainability in Business Inc.
- Date published
- 2014
- Copyright note
- Copyright (c) 2014. The author accepted version is reproduced here with permission.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation)
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99553507102621
- Output Type
- Conference paper
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