An Evaluation of a Police Debriefing Programme: Outcomes for Police Officers Five Years after a Police Shooting
| Author | Christine Stephens,Nicola Addis |
| DOI | 10.1350/ijps.2008.10.4.092 |
| Published date | 01 December 2008 |
| Date | 01 December 2008 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
An evaluation of a police debriefing
programme: outcomes for police officers
five years after a police shooting
Nicola Addis§and Christine Stephens‡
§School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Tel: +64 6 350
3569 ext. 2042; Fax: +64 6 350 5673; email: nicaddis@hotmail.com
‡(Corresponding author) School of Psychology, Massey University, Palmerston North,
New Zealand. Tel: +64 6 350 9099 ext. 2081; Fax: +64 6 350 5673; email:
C.V.Stephens@massey.ac.nz
Received 15 July 2007; accepted 2 February 2008
Keywords: debriefing, police, PTSD, traumatic stress, police shootings
Christine Stephens
is a senior lecturer in the
School of Psychology, Massey University, New
Zealand, where she teaches health psychology
and research methods. For several years she has
been involved in research with police officers in
regard to the prevention of work-related stress.
Nicola Addis
completed this research project
with the New Zealand Police as a part of her
Master of Arts in Psychology. She now works in
the area of family health in New Zealand.
A
BSTRACT
To evaluate the effectiveness of a debriefing pro-
gramme to reduce traumatic stress in a police
organisation, officers involved in a shooting were
surveyed by questionnaire, five years after the
event. The results showed that 79 per cent of 57
officers had not received debriefing, despite its
mandatory status. Those who had received
debriefing had higher post-traumatic stress dis-
order (PTSD) scores; however, regression of
PTSD and health scores, on stress perceptions,
social support, other trauma, and debriefing,
showed that debriefing had no significant effect.
These results support those of other controlled
studies suggesting that debriefing does not mit-
igate PTSD and may exacerbate symptoms. A
number of limitations of the present study are
discussed in terms of suggestions for urgent evalu-
ation of such programs in organisational
settings.
INTRODUCTION
Research since the 1970s has indicated that
over 85 per cent of emergency personnel
involved in a traumatic incident have
experienced a traumatic stress reaction at
some time (Mitchell & Bray, 1990). Tasks
considered especially stressful include:
duties concerned with violence or threat-
ened violence, (Sewell, 1993); being shot at,
being physically threatened, having one’s
family threatened, and working with vic-
tims who were badly beaten (Martin,
McKean, & Veltkamp, 1986); and killing
someone in the line of duty, death of a
fellow officer and physical attack (Violanti,
1996).
In New Zealand, there is some evidence
that police officers experience more trau-
matic reactions, and higher levels of symp-
toms of ongoing stress, than the general
population. For example, the New Zealand
Police (1998) reports that psychological fac-
tors are the primary reasons for officer
retirement, accounting for 67 per cent of
International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume 10 Number 4
International Journal of Police
Science and Management,
Vol. 10 No. 4, 2008, pp. 361-373.
DOI: 10.1350/ijps.2008.10.4.092
Page 361
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