Citation

Fuller E, Boland GM, Salami T. Police Pract. Res. 2024; 25(3): 308-323.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15614263.2023.2231594

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Law enforcement officers regularly encounter critical incidents, which can result in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Multiple factors could impact the association between critical incidents and PTSD, particularly work environment stress (WES) and perceived organizational support (POS). We hypothesized that WES would moderate the association between critical incident frequency and PTSD symptoms, with POS interacting with WES to moderate the association. The current study used cross-sectional data from a sample of 120 officers (average age = 42.23 years, SD = 11.09; 80.8% male). WES interacted with critical incident frequency to impact PTSD symptoms (p =.05), while POS did not significantly moderate the association. Exploratory analyses identified only organizational stress as a significant moderator (p =.03). The current results provide insights regarding interactions between organizational supports and stressors, as well as PTSD symptoms, underscoring the potential importance of using research to guide the development of departmental policies and programs. Additional prospective experimental research is also needed.

Language: en

Keywords

law enforcement officers; Perceived organizational support; posttraumatic stress disorder; trauma; work environment stress