Journal article
Mental Health of Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cadets Completing Training
Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, Vol.40, pp.180-196
2025
Appears in Thompson Institute Research Collection
Abstract
Serving Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) evidence prevalent mental health disorders, likely due to diverse occupational stressors including potentially psychologically traumatic events. RCMP cadet mental health when starting the Cadet Training Program (CTP) appears comparable to, or better, than the general public. The CTP is expected to improve mental health, but the mental health of cadets who complete the CTP immediately prior to active-duty deployment remained unknown. The current paper provides estimates of RCMP cadet mental health at pre-deployment. Participants were RCMP cadets who completed a survey assessing self-reported mental health disorder symptoms (n = 449, 73.9% male) and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.; n = 466, 75.8% male) at pre-deployment as part of a larger RCMP study. Participant mental health at pre-training was compared between cadets who did (completers) and did not (non-completers) complete the pre-deployment assessments. At pre-deployment, the proportion of completers who screened positive for one or more current mental disorders based on self-reported symptoms (7.3%) or the M.I.N.I. (4.1%) was lower than the diagnostic prevalence for the general population (10.1%), with no statistically significant sex or gender differences. Completers evidenced improved mental health relative to their pre-training assessments, better mental health at pre-training than non-completers, and better mental health than serving RCMP. The current results are the first to describe RCMP cadet mental health at pre-deployment. The results indicate that RCMP deployed from the CTP have excellent mental health, suggesting that protecting RCMP mental health requires ongoing efforts to address the impacts of postdeployment occupational stressors.
Details
- Title
- Mental Health of Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cadets Completing Training
- Authors
- R. Nicholas Carleton (Corresponding Author) - University of ReginaTaylor A. Teckchandani - University of ReginaShannon Sauer-Zavala - University of KentuckyKirby Q. Maguire - University of ReginaAmber J. Fletcher - University of ReginaLaleh Jamshidi - University of ReginaSherry H. Stewart - Dalhousie UniversityTracie O. Afifi - University of ManitobaLisa M. Lix - University of ManitobaJolan Nisbet - University of ReginaKatie L. Andrews - University of ReginaRobyn E. Shields - University of ReginaGregory P. Kratzig - University of ReginaJ. Patrick Neary - University of ReginaTerence M. Keane - National Center for PTSDAlain Brunet - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Thompson InstituteNicholas A. Jones - University of ReginaJitender Sareen - University of ManitobaGordon J. G. Asmundson - University of Regina
- Publication details
- Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, Vol.40, pp.180-196
- Publisher
- Springer New York LLC
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11896-024-09715-5
- ISSN
- 1936-6469
- Data Availability
- The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because the datasets will be made available only for independent confirmation purposes and only to persons with the necessary ethical and security clearances as defined by the research ethics board at the University of Regina and the contractual obligations with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Requests regarding the datasets can be made to the corresponding author.
- Grant note
- The RCMP study is funded by support from the RCMP, the Government of Canada, and the Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. L. M. Lix is supported by a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Methods for Electronic Health Data Quality. T. O. Afifi is supported by a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Childhood Adversity and Resilience. S. H. Stewart is supported by a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Addictions and Mental Health.
- Organisation Unit
- Thompson Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991095745802621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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