Angehrn Vig Stelnicki 2022

URL link:

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I located the article on PubMed at:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=PTSD+women+first+responders+canada&filter=datesearch.y_5

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https://research.ebsco.com/c/amz5ui/viewer/pdf/w5dv5uva5j

Methods:

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Participants were Canadian municipal and provincial police officers who completed a web-based survey in English or French between 1 September 2016 and 31 January 2017. Information outlining participant recruitment and data collection methods in greater detail is available elsewhere (Carleton et al., 2018b, 2018a). The study was approved by the Institutional Research Ethics Board at the University of [omitted for review]. In total, 1882 Canadian municipal and provincial police officers (26.7% women) began the survey and identified as male or female. There were four participants who responded to the question on sex (i.e., two females and two males), but not to the gender question; as such, in the absence of other evidence, for the current analyses those four participants were assumed to also identify as cisgender (i.e., females as women and males as men), respectively. Only participants who completed the relevant self-report measures were included in the current analysis (n = 1174). Participant demographics are presented in Table 1.

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 The data from this study was obtained from a larger study conducted on behalf of the University of Regina in which a web based self-report survey was sent via email to employees of various first responder organizations (fire fighters, police officers, and paramedics) between September of 2016 and January of 2017.  26.7% of the respondents identified as female, 4 participants did not respond to the question regarding gender so were assumed to identify as cisgender. Of the 1882 respondents, a total of 1174 participant’s information was used. Their demographics are listed in Table 1.

Introduction:

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The nature of police work results in increased rates of potential psychologically traumatic events (PPTE: Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT), 2019) and subsequently elevated mental disorder rates in officers relative to the general population (Carleton et al., 2019; Ricciardelli et al., 2018; Soomro & Yanos, 2019). A PPTE is a stressful event that may cause psychological trauma depending on the individual’s perception of the event within a specific context (Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT), 2019). A recent survey of Canadian public safety personnel (PSP) indicated 34% of municipal and provincial police officers screened positive for at least one mental disorder (Carleton et al., 2018a); in contrast, approximately 10% of the general population have at least one diagnosed mental disorder CONTACT Andréanne Angehrn angehrnandreanne@gmail.com Anxiety and Illness Behaviour Laboratory, University of Regina, Regina, Canada COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY 2022, VOL. 51, NO. 1, 3–20 https://doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2021.1877338 © 2021 Swedish Association for Behaviour Therapy (Statistics Canada, 2012). Based on self-report screening measures, police officers reported high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and alcohol use disorder (AUD; Carleton et al., 2018a). Unlike some other PSP groups (e.g., paramedics, correctional workers, Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP] officers), there was a significant sex difference across municipal and provincial police; specifically, women police officers were more likely to screen positive for a mental disorder than men police officers (Carleton et al., 2018a). Systemic variables may have differentially impacted the mental health of men and women police officers (Carleton et al., 2018a) and additional research is needed to better understand such differences (Korol et al., 2019).

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Exposure to psychologically traumatic events in policing has previously been shown to subject police officers to higher incidences of having mental health disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder (PD), Major depressive disorder (MDD), Social anxiety disorder (SAD), Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Among municipal and provincial police officers, male officers had higher levels of AUD than women officers. Women officers who were screened in this study had significantly higher levels of these mental health disorders (other than AUD) than male officers and additional research is needed to understand the reasons for these differences.

Results:

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Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations can be found in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. All correlations were in the expected direction and significant (ps < .05). Participants who reported higher levels of mental disorder symptoms also reported decreased perceptions of social support, increased policing-related stress, and increased sleep problems. Significant sex differences were found on SPS-10, ISI, GAD-7, PHQ-9, PDSS, SIPS, and AUDIT total scores. Women reported statistically significantly higher perceived social support, sleep problems, GAD symptoms, MDD symptoms, PD symptoms, and SAD symptoms (all ps < .05). Males reported statistically significantly higher AUD symptoms than women (p < .001).

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The tables (2 &3 below) showing the results of this study indicate that male participants who reported higher levels of mental health disorder symptoms also reported feeling they had less social support, increased work-related stress, and sleep problems. Men reported higher rates of alcohol use disorder (AUD) than women. The results for women participants differed in that they reported higher mental health symptoms but unexpectedly, also reported higher levels of perceived social support, and sleep problems.

 Discussion:

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The current investigation was designed to assess whether a range of behavioural mental disorder risk factors (i.e., sleep, social support, stress) accounted for the association between sex and symptoms of mental disorders in police officers. We expected that sleep, social support, and policing-related stress would significantly mediate the relationship between sex and mental disorder symptom severity such that each behavioural risk factor would help account for the greater mental disorder symptom severity in women police as compared to men. The current results regarding sleep quality are generally consistent with our hypotheses. Unexpectedly, policing-related stress did not significantly mediate the relationship between sex and mental disorder symptom severity. Increased levels of social support were associated with decreased mental disorder symptoms. However, also unexpectedly, women reported higher social support than men, yet overall higher mental disorder symptoms. The current results are novel and provide a better understanding of the distinct nuances associated with the mental health of police officers. The results can help inform policy and intervention strategies intending to provide the best possible mental health care for all police officers.

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The authors found a higher incidence of mental health disorders among women police officers than in male officers and higher than in members of the public. The authors examined risk factors of sleep, social support, and stress to determine if per their hypothesis, these factors could account for the sex differences. They determined that increased perceived social support did decrease mental disorder symptoms in police officers, but also unexpectedly determined that women officers receive more social support but still had higher levels of mental health disorders than male officers. The authors believe this study can help inform future policies to assist in determining prevention strategies to improve mental health care for police officers.

Future Directions:

• What future research should follow up on this work?

Similar studies should be conducted to compare the incidence of mental health disorders in femalepolice officers versus the percentage in male officers

particularly in relation to the associated factors of sleep, perceived social support and work-related stress. Additionally, studies could be done with officers

who belong to police departments that offer programs for the prevention of operational stress disorders to determine if these programs can decrease the

potential for officers to develop mental health disorders related to their experiences in policing.

Difficult Material:

• What did you not understand about this paper that someone else may be able to help you with? Or, if you understood everything, what did you find most challenging to understand?

The most challenging part of this article was that the methods section. It referred to 2 charts using statistical language not plain language. This left myself having to look up statistical terms in order to interpret and clearly understand what the data on these charts were saying.  I would liked to have asked someone who is more proficient in the use of statistics to explain them to me.