Journal of Psychiatry

The identification of factors involved in psychological stability and protection from psychological injury while working in high-risk police roles

4^th Euro-Global Congress on Psychiatrists & Forensic Psychology

November 10-11, 2016 Alicante, Spain

Jane F Richards

University of South Australia, Australia

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Psychiatry

Abstract:

Specialist police who investigate sexual offence, child abuse and child exploitation need a psychological robustness to meet the demands of their role. Drawing on research in the field of trauma as it relates to specialist police, this research examined the factors involved in maintaining the psychological robustness and reducing the psychological impact of working in these roles. 29 specialist police from three different specialist groups were compared with 19 general duties police in two separate studies. The first study involved the examination of the relationship between factors of personality, coping strategies, empathy, psychological distress, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and job satisfaction. The second study involved individual semi-structured interviews, which were undertaken to ascertain the frequency of exposure to sexually explicit and violent images and to understand the motivation for general duties and specialist police to undertake and remain in their respective roles. This research provides evidence that the risk of psychological injury is mitigated by productive coping strategies, particularly those of problem solving, using professional, personal and collegiate support and the use of emotional distancing, an empathic style that is not emotionally-based. Although, this research provides a focus on one employee group, it is relevant to other professionals who work in the area of child protection and child exploitation as reduction of the psychological impact of their work is crucial to the maintenance of their wellbeing and their ongoing capacity to undertake these essential roles.

Biography :

Email: janerichards@internode.on.net