An Exploration of Stress, Psychological Demands, and Coping in Law Enforcement Officers
Date of Award
5-2015
Document Type
Undergraduate Capstone Project
Degree Name
M.A.
Organizational Unit
Graduate School of Professional Psychology
First Advisor
Mark Aoyagi
Second Advisor
Artur Poczwardowski
Keywords
Sport and performance psychology, Law enforcement officers, High-risk occupations
Abstract
Sport and performance psychology (SPP) is a field that is rapidly growing, especially within the domain of high-risk occupations. In order to practice SPP competently with any population, a certain amount of domain specific knowledge is considered a prerequisite (Aoyagi, Portenga, Poczwardowski, Cohen, & Statler 2012). The purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the ways in which law enforcement officers experience stress and the demands of their workplaces as well as to explore the current coping methods used by law enforcement officers to cope with those stressors and demands. Interpretive phenomenological analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2008) was utilized with six law enforcement officers to examine the participants’ experiences through semi-structured interviews. The following seven categories pertaining to stressors, demands, and coping resources emerged from the responses: (a) administrative duties and expectations, (b) interacting with other individuals, (c) emotional/physiological regulation, (d) extensive preparation, (e) support system, (f) behavioral/cognitive coping, and (g) formal departmental resources. The results of the study supported and expanded on the previous literature and informed a set of practical implications crucial to practitioners who want to develop domain-specific knowledge about, and intervene successfully with, law enforcement officers.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.
Extent
37 pages
Recommended Citation
Grinchenko, Kirill; O’Connor, Kevin; and Swindell, Rasheed, "An Exploration of Stress, Psychological Demands, and Coping in Law Enforcement Officers" (2015). Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects. 34.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/capstone_masters/34