Stress
Does mindfulness training help police officers manage stress and health?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Tailored mindfulness training significantly reduced mental distress and improved sleep in police officers, although most physiological measures of stress remained unchanged.
Key findings
The mindfulness group showed significant reductions in psychological distress both immediately after the training, with an effect size of negative zero point four five, and at the three-month follow-up, with an effect size of negative zero point four one. Additionally, subjective sleep quality improved significantly by the three-month follow-up, with an effect size of negative zero point four four. There were no meaningful improvements in pain, physical health, occupational stress, or inflammatory blood markers.
Methodology
Researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial with 114 police officers split into an eight-week mindfulness course or a waitlist control group. The study measured self-reported mental health, sleep, and physical symptoms at baseline, immediately post-training, and three months later. They also analyzed physiological stress markers, including salivary cortisol collected over three consecutive days, hair cortisol, and blood inflammatory levels.
Limitations
The study does not show if these training benefits translate to better real-world interactions or safer policing in marginalized communities. The mindfulness group was also descriptively less healthy than the control group at the start, which could bias findings despite statistical adjustments. Furthermore, physiological results were largely mixed, with no significant differences observed in inflammatory markers, hair cortisol, or diurnal cortisol slope after the three-month period.
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