Tara Officer, Jackie Cumming and Karen McBride-Henry
The purpose of this paper is to lay out how advanced practitioner development occurs in New Zealand primary health care settings. The paper specifically focuses on mechanisms…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to lay out how advanced practitioner development occurs in New Zealand primary health care settings. The paper specifically focuses on mechanisms occurring across policy creation and in practice leading to successful role development.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors applied a realist approach involving interviews, document review and field log observations to create refined theories explaining how successful development occurs.
Findings
Three final mechanisms were found to influence successful advanced practitioner role development: engagement in planning and integrating roles; establishing opportunities as part of a well-defined career pathway; and championing role uptake and work to full scopes of practice.
Research limitations/implications
This research focuses on one snapshot in time only; it illustrates the importance of actively managing health workforce change. Future investigations should involve the continued and systematic evaluation of advanced practitioner development.
Practical implications
The successful development of advanced practitioner roles in a complex system necessitates recognising how to trigger mechanisms occurring at times well beyond their introduction.
Social implications
Potential candidates for new roles should expect roadblocks in their development journey. Successfully situating these roles into practice through having a sustainable and stable workforce supply provides patients with access to a wider range of services.
Originality/value
This is the first time a realist evaluation has been undertaken, in New Zealand, of similar programmes operating across multiple sites. The paper brings insights into the process of developing new health programmes within an already established system.
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Marin C. Beagley, Zoë D. Peterson, David R. Strasshofer and Tara E. Galovski
Women comprise a significant and growing proportion of the law enforcement population. Despite this, their potentially unique reactions to job-related posttraumatic stress…
Abstract
Purpose
Women comprise a significant and growing proportion of the law enforcement population. Despite this, their potentially unique reactions to job-related posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and depression have been underrepresented in the relevant literature, particularly within the context of exposure to community violence. Also understudied is the role of empathy in the development of post-trauma reactions, which has been a risk factor for the development of posttraumatic distress in previous studies. With the recent endorsement of empathy training by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, it is important to examine ways in which empathy may contribute to differences in PTSS and depression for male and female officers. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Male and female police officers (n=189) exposed to violence during the 2014 Ferguson protests completed a battery of measures designed to assess demographic information, prior trauma history, and mental health outcomes.
Findings
Moderation analyses showed that empathy moderated the relationships between exposure and PTSS and exposure and depression in female officers, such that exposure was associated with higher posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms only for female officers with high levels of empathy. These relationships were not found for men.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine sex differences and the role of empathy in the mental health effects of law enforcement secondary to violence during community protests against policing.
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Priscilla Prutzman, Elizabeth Roberts, Tara Fishler and Tricia Jones
Restorative practice programs in the USA and Western elementary and secondary schools have been the focus of intensive, large scale field research that reports positive impacts on…
Abstract
Purpose
Restorative practice programs in the USA and Western elementary and secondary schools have been the focus of intensive, large scale field research that reports positive impacts on school climate, pro-social student behavior and aggressive behavior. This paper aims to contribute to a gap in the research by reporting a case study of transformation of an urban middle school in a multi-year implementation of restorative practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports how Creative Response to Conflict (CRC) supported the transformation of Middle School 217, in Queens, NY, from a school with one of the highest suspension rates in New York City to a model restorative school. CRC’s model, which incorporates the themes of cooperation, communication, affirmation, conflict resolution, mediation, problem-solving, bias awareness, bullying prevention and intervention, social-emotional learning and restorative practices, helped shift the perspective and practice of the entire school community from punitive to restorative.
Findings
Implementation of a full school advisory program using restorative circles for all meetings and classes and development of a 100% respect program committing all school community members to dignified and respectful treatment aided the transformation. Key to MS 217’s success was the collaboration of multiple non-profit organizations for provision of peer mediation training, after-school follow-up work, staff coaching and preventative cyberbullying training through the Social Media-tors! Program.
Research limitations/implications
Challenges to the restorative practices implementation are reviewed with attention to the implementation online during COVID-19.
Originality/value
Next steps in the program post-COVID are articulated as a best practice model for other schools interested in adopting MS 217’s commitment, creativity and community-building to become a model restorative school.
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Tara A. Reis, Jennifer C. Gibbs, Daniel Howard and Emily R. Strohacker
In 2018, the National Human Trafficking hotline received 275 cases of human trafficking in Pennsylvania, a higher than average portion of the 10,949 human trafficking cases…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2018, the National Human Trafficking hotline received 275 cases of human trafficking in Pennsylvania, a higher than average portion of the 10,949 human trafficking cases received for the USA. Whether human trafficking victims receive services or enter the criminal justice system as prostitution offenders depends on how police identify them, as police officers are usually the first to interact with human trafficking victims. Thus, understanding how police identify human trafficking is important. The purpose of the study is to explore Pennsylvania police perceptions of human trafficking.
Design/methodology/approach
Scenarios were presented in a survey to 489 Pennsylvania police officers.
Findings
Police training improved officer identification of human trafficking (vs prostitution) involving older victims. Officers with more tenure were less likely to identify older victims of human trafficking than officers with less tenure. However, older officers were better able to successfully identify older (i.e. age 25 years) victims of human trafficking, but officer age had no effect on identifying younger (i.e. age 15 years) victims of human trafficking. The implications are discussed in the study.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature by testing (1) whether training affects police ability to identify human trafficking victims in a scenario, controlling for other factors and (2) whether victim age affects officer identification of human trafficking victims. More officers correctly identified younger victims of human trafficking when force was explicitly stated, but more officers misidentified younger victims when force was not explicitly stated and older victims when force was explicitly stated.
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John M. Violanti, Luenda E. Charles, Erin McCanlies, Tara A. Hartley, Penelope Baughman, Michael E. Andrew, Desta Fekedulegn, Claudia C. Ma, Anna Mnatsakanova and Cecil M. Burchfiel
The purpose of this paper is to provide a state-of-the-art review on the topic of police stressors and associated health outcomes. Recent empirical research is reviewed in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a state-of-the-art review on the topic of police stressors and associated health outcomes. Recent empirical research is reviewed in the areas of workplace stress, shift work, traumatic stress, and health. The authors provide a comprehensive table outlining occupational exposures and related health effects in police officers.
Design/methodology/approach
A review of recent empirical research on police stress and untoward psychological and physiological health outcomes in police officers.
Findings
The results offer a conceptual idea of the empirical associations between stressful workplace exposures and their impact on the mental and physical well-being of officers.
Research limitations/implications
A key limitation observed in prior research is the cross-sectional study design; however, this serves as a motivator for researchers to explore these associations utilizing a longitudinal study design that will help determine causality.
Originality/value
This review provides empirical evidence of both mental and physical outcomes associated with police stress and the processes involved in both. Research findings presented in this paper are based on sound psychological and medical evidence among police officers
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Erin C. McCanlies, Anna Mnatsakanova, Michael E. Andrew, John M. Violanti and Tara A. Hartley
Balancing work and family in dual-earner households can be stressful. Research suggests that increased work-family conflict (WFC) significantly predicts poor psychological health…
Abstract
Purpose
Balancing work and family in dual-earner households can be stressful. Research suggests that increased work-family conflict (WFC) significantly predicts poor psychological health and increased stress in police officers. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether child care stress was associated with anxiety symptoms and if stressful work events and shift work modified this relationship among 163 Buffalo, NY police officers.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants indicated child care stress by reporting how much stress they felt (0 – none to 10 – high) when making child care/daily living arrangements. Shiftwork was assessed from pay-roll data (1994 to date of exam) and by asking, “Do you work opposite shift from your spouse/partner to care for your children?” to assess partner’s shift. The Beck Anxiety Scale and Spielberger Police Stress Survey were used to assess anxiety and work stress, respectively. Effect modification was assessed by stratifying on police stress scores using their median values, and on partner’s shift. All models were adjusted for age, alcohol intake, sex and smoking status.
Findings
Results suggest that child care stress was positively associated with anxiety symptoms and that this relationship was moderated by high (>median) work stress factors and afternoon/midnight shift-work, but not having a partner who works opposite shift. These results indicate that child care stress is associated with anxiety symptoms and that this relationship may be modified by work factors.
Research limitations/implications
A number of limitations should be considered while interpreting the results. This study is cross-sectional, which prevents causal inferences; therefore, the temporal pattern between exposure and outcome cannot be determined. The independent, dependent and moderating variables are all self-report measures, which may introduce recall bias. Lastly, generalizability is limited to police departments of similar size and geographic area.
Practical implications
Police experience high stress as part of their jobs, these results indicate that similar to other professions, WFC can also affect police officers, and is associated with higher levels of anxiety.
Originality/value
Few research studies have evaluated the affects of family issues in police. Specifically, the relationship between child care stress and anxiety, and how this relationship may be modified by high work stress.
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Penelope Allison, Anna Mnatsakanova, Erin McCanlies, Desta Fekedulegn, Tara A. Hartley, Michael E. Andrew and John M. Violanti
Chronic exposure to occupational stress may lead to depressive symptoms in police officers. The association between police stress and depressive symptoms and the potential…
Abstract
Purpose
Chronic exposure to occupational stress may lead to depressive symptoms in police officers. The association between police stress and depressive symptoms and the potential influences of coping and hardiness were evaluated. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Stress level was assessed in the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress Study (2004–2009) with the Spielberger Police Stress Survey. The frequency and severity of events at work were used to calculate stress indices for the past year. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale was used to measure depressive symptoms during the past week. Linear regression was used to evaluate the association between the stress indices and depressive symptom scores. Models were adjusted for age, sex, race, smoking status and alcohol intake, and stratified by median values for coping (passive, active and support seeking) and hardiness (control, commitment and challenge) to assess effect modification.
Findings
Among the 388 officers (73.2 percent men), a significant positive association was observed between total stress and the CES-D score (β=1.98 (SE=0.36); p<0.001). Lower CES-D scores were observed for officers who reported lower passive coping (β=0.94 (SE=0.45); p=0.038) and higher active coping (β=1.41 (SE=0.44); p=0.002), compared with their counterparts. Officers higher in hardiness had lower CES-D scores, particularly for commitment (β=0.86 (SE=0.35); p=0.016) and control (β=1.58 (SE=0.34); p<0.001).
Originality/value
Results indicate that high active coping and hardiness modify the effect of work stress in law enforcement, acting to reduce depressive symptoms.
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Sanja Kutnjak Ivković and Tara O'Connor Shelley
This paper aims to explore how police officer rank affects the relation between the extent of the code of silence and views of discipline fairness.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how police officer rank affects the relation between the extent of the code of silence and views of discipline fairness.
Design/methodology/approach
In 2005, 150 police supervisors and 450 line officers from East Bohemia, the Czech Republic were surveyed, regarding crucial components of police integrity.
Findings
Supervisor and line officer codes of silence are similar; whenever the codes differ, the supervisor code seems to be narrower. The majority of line officers and supervisors provided similar assessments of the expected discipline; they disagreed only regarding a small number of scenarios. The results clearly show a direct relation between how strongly police officers adhere to the code of silence and the way they view disciplinary fairness, regardless of their supervisory status.
Research limitations/implications
The survey included only police officers from East Bohemia in the Czech Republic.
Practical implications
The methodology can be utilized by police administrators to explore the contours of the code of silence in their agencies, police officers' views about appropriate and expected discipline, as well as the relation between the police officers' willingness to tolerate misconduct in silence, and their perceptions of the fairness of the expected discipline.
Originality/value
Studies exploring the relation between the code of silence and discipline fairness are rare. This study contributes to this scarce literature along two dimensions: first, it provides an in‐depth analysis of the relation between the extent of the code of silence and views of discipline fairness in an emerging democracy; and second, it explores the effect of police officer rank on this relation.
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Matthew S. Crow, Tara O'Connor Shelley, Laura E. Bedard and Marc Gertz
Following the velvet revolution of 1989 and the adoption of a democratic form of government, Czech policing has experienced a plethora of changes resulting in a new police force…
Abstract
Following the velvet revolution of 1989 and the adoption of a democratic form of government, Czech policing has experienced a plethora of changes resulting in a new police force that has been understudied to date. This research seeks to address this void using an exploratory approach that utilizes survey research to gauge the attitudes of 70 Czech police officers regarding crime and criminal justice policies; police and government involvement in social and order maintenance problems; and police practices in the Czech Republic (e.g. community‐oriented policing). Several factors – historical, ideology and job tenure – are considered as potential explanations for observed trends in officer attitudes. The results indicate that there are no clear patterns to these officers' attitudes.