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.
How this study connects
Role on claims
Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.
A durable effect on the self-reported outcome, in an occupational group rarely studied.
Mindfulness training reduced distress in police officers and the effect persisted. Psychological distress fell immediately after training (d = -0.45) and remained lower at three-month follow-up (d = -0.41), with subjective sleep quality also improving.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Whether these interventions reduce stress or reduce reported stress is not resolved. The stimulation trial was double-blind and sham-controlled but relied on self-report questionnaires rather than cortisol or actigraphy, and the mindfulness study's participants were described as self-selected — so an expectancy account survives in both.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Open questions
Tensions this paper is part of
From concept pages' “where studies disagree.” Disagreement means the same question; scope means different assays, populations, or outcomes.
Whether these interventions reduce stress or reduce reported stress is not resolved. The stimulation trial was double-blind and sham-controlled but relied on self-report questionnaires rather than cortisol or actigraphy, and the mindfulness study's participants were described as self-selected — so an expectancy account survives in both.
Inspect source passages
Does mindfulness training help police officers manage stress and health?
These passages occur verbatim in the stored paper text. They support the points listed below; they do not verify every statement in the explanation.
The intent-to-treat analysis included 114 police officers.
One participant withdraw following consent and prior to data collection, leaving 114 participants for intent-to-treat analyses ().
The training program lasted for an eight-week period.
The intervention was an 8-week, 18-h mindfulness-based training lightly modified from a previous feasibility pilot study (,).
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.
Related papers in this topic
Same topic cluster — not a recommendation engine.
- Family support associated with lower COVID stress and better mood in Filipinos
- College academic stress tracks lower mental well-being
- How did early COVID reshape Australian family life?
- Measuring Cognitive Control and Flexibility During Stress
- Can online self-compassion training cut stress in psychologists?