Citation

Kelty SF, Gordon H. Psychiatry Psychol. Law. 2015; 22(2): 273-290.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13218719.2014.941092

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Working as a police officer, psychiatric intern, crime scene expert or forensic physician can be stressful and these occupations have high burnout rates. Almost 20% of police officers and other justice-related emergency management personnel develop heightened occupational stress. In some Australian law-enforcement agencies, attrition rates of close to 50% over 3 years have been reported for forensic practitioners and crime scene examiners (CSEs). Included in these rates are a large number of CSEs who report long-term psychological injury due to their exposure to serious crime scenes. We interviewed 19 CSEs designated by their workplaces as performing at a high level to determine how they manage this stressful occupational. The CSEs were aware of the potential stress of their occupation and actively engaged in self stress-management strategies. In this article, we overview the results with attention given to why forensic organizations should invest in promoting stress-management strategies in their employees. © 2014 The Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law.

Language: en

Keywords

adult; human; cognition; suicide; female; male; workload; police; burnout; social support; interview; forensic medicine; stress management; mental disease; intelligence; law enforcement; emotion; coping behavior; psychometry; reliability; work environment; criminal justice; Article; job stress; Cronbach alpha coefficient; taboo; critical thinking; triangulation; occupational stress; Depression Anxiety Stress Scale; assessment of humans; behavior assessment; resiliency; connor davidson resilience scale; justice agencies