Police Officers' Ability in Recognizing Relevant Mental Health Conditions.
individuals with mental disorders
mental health conditions
mental health literacy
police
training
Journal
Frontiers in psychology
ISSN: 1664-1078
Titre abrégé: Front Psychol
Pays: Switzerland
ID NLM: 101550902
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
2021
2021
Historique:
received:
18
06
2021
accepted:
16
08
2021
entrez:
4
10
2021
pubmed:
5
10
2021
medline:
5
10
2021
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
The recognition of certain mental health conditions is important as this requires police officers to communicate and behave in an adjusted manner with affected individuals. The objective of the present study was to test police officers' knowledge about mental health symptoms as a component of their mental health literacy (MHL) and to examine if police officers' perceived knowledge corresponds with their actual knowledge. A questionnaire was used to assess for MHL representing mental health conditions which occur frequently in police requests (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress disorders, and emotionally unstable personality disorder). Furthermore, the questionnaire assessed the frequency of police requests, the officers' perceived knowledge regarding mental disorders and their sense of feeling sufficiently trained to deal with these kinds of requests. Eighty-two police officers participated in the study. Police officers' actual knowledge about mental health conditions did not correspond with their perceived knowledge. Participants revealed a moderately high level of overall knowledge which differed with regard to symptoms of each of the five mental health conditions. The mental status of a paranoid schizophrenia was best identified by the police officers and the majority correctly allocated the symptoms. Post-traumatic stress disorders and manic episodes were only identified by a minority of police offers. Police training geared to prepare for requests involving individuals with mental disorders should expand this limited knowledge transfer and focus on a broader variety of mental health conditions that police officers frequently encounter in requests.
Identifiants
pubmed: 34603148
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.727341
pmc: PMC8484651
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
727341Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2021 Wittmann, Groen, Hampel, Petersen and Jörns-Presentati.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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