An Evaluation of a Police Debriefing Programme: Outcomes for Police Officers Five Years after a Police Shooting

International Journal of Police Science and Management

Volumn 10, Issue 4, 2008, Pages 361-373

  Addis, Nicola ^a   Stephens, Christine ^a  

^a MASSEY UNIVERSITY   (New Zealand)

Author keywords

debriefing; police; police shootings; PTSD; traumatic stress

Indexed keywords

EID: 84897319607     PISSN: 14613557     EISSN: 14781603     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1350/ijps.2008.10.4.092     Document Type: Article

References (65)

1. Alexander D. A. (1993). Stress among police body handlers. A long-term follow-up. British Journal of Psychiatry, 13, 806–808.
2. Armstrong K. Zatzick D. Metzler T. Weiss D. Marmar C. R. Gama S. Ronfeldt H. Roepke L. (1998). Debriefing of American Red Cross personnel: Pilot study on participants' evaluations and case examples for the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake relief operation. Social Work in Health Care, 27(1), 33–50.
3. Bisson J. I. Deahl M. P. (1994). Psychological debriefing and prevention of post traumatic stress: More research is needed. British Journal of Psychiatry, 165, 717–720.
4. Bisson J. I. Jenkins P. L. Alexander J. Bannister C. (1997). Randomised control trial of psychological debriefing for victims of acute burn trauma. British Journal of Psychiatry, 171, 78–81.
5. Black J. (2001). The New Zealand Police Trauma Policy—Manual. Wellington: HR Service Centre.
6. Brown D. (2000). Time could be the active ingredient in post-trauma debriefing. British Medical Journal, 320(7239), 943.
7. Busuttil W. Busuttil A. (1997). Debriefing and crisis intervention. In Black D. Newman M. et al. (Eds.), Psychological trauma: A developmental approach (pp. 238–249). London: Royal College of Psychiatrists.
8. Busuttil W. Turnbull G. J. Neal L. A. Rollins J. West A. G. Blanch N. Herepath R. (1995). Incorporating psychological debriefing techniques within a brief group psychotherapy programme for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 167, 495–502.
9. Caplan R. D. Cobb S. French J. R. P. Jr. van Harrison R. Pinneau S. R. Jr. (1975). Job demands and worker health. Washington, DC: United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
10. Carlier I. V. E. Gersons B. P. R. (2000). Brief prevention programs after trauma. In Violanti J. M. Paton D. Dunning C. (Eds.), Post-traumatic stress interventions: Challenges, issues and perspectives (pp. 65–80). New York: Plenum Press.
11. Carlier I. V. E. Lamberts R. D. Gersons B. P. R. (1997). Risk factors for posttraumatic stress symptomatology in police officers: A prospective analysis. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 158, 498–506.
12. Carlier I. V. E. Lamberts R. D. van Uchelen J. J. Gersons B. P. R. (1998). Disaster-related posttraumatic stress in police officers: A field study of the impact of debriefing. Stress Medicine, 14, 143–178.
13. Chemtob C. M. Tomas S. Law W. Cremniter D. (1997). Post-disaster psychological intervention: A field study of the impact of debriefing on psychological distress. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 415–417.
14. Deahl M. P. (2000). Psychological debriefing: Controversy and challenge. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 34(6), 929–939.
15. Deahl M. P. Gillham A. B. Thomas J. Searle M. M. Srinivasan M. (1994). Psychological sequelae following the Gulf War: Factors associated with subsequent morbidity and the effectiveness of psychological debriefing. British Journal of Psychiatry, 165, 60–65.
16. Doctor R. S. Curtis D. Isaacs G. (1994). Psychiatric morbidity in policemen and the effect of brief psychotherapeutic intervention—A pilot study. Stress Medicine, 10, 151–157.
17. Dyregrov A. (1997). The process in psychological debriefing. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 10(4), 589–605.
18. Dyregrov A. (1999). Helpful and hurtful aspects of psychological debriefing groups. International Journal of Emergency Mental Health, 3, 175–181.
19. Everly G. S. Flannery R. B. Mitchell J. T. (2000). Critical incident stress management (Cism): A review of the literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 5(1), 23–40.
20. Ford G. W. (1993). A review of police psychology: Historical and current trends. Unpublished report, New Zealand Police, Auckland, New Zealand.
21. Goldberg D. P. Gater R. Sartorius N. Ustun T. B. Piccinelli M. Gureje O. Rutter C. (1997). The validity of two versions of the GHQ in the WHO study of mental illness in general health care. Psychological Medicine, 27, 191–197.
22. Griffiths J. A. Watts R. (1992). The Kempsey and Grafton bus crashes: The aftermath. University of New England, Australia: Instructional Design Solutions.
23. Hardy G. E. Shapiro D. A. Haynes C. E. Rick J. E. (1999). Validation of the General Health Questionnaire-12 using a sample of employees from England's health care services. Psychological Assessment, 11(2), 159–165.
24. Harvey M. R. (1996). An ecological view of psychological trauma and trauma recovery. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 3–23.
25. Howard C. Tuffin K. Stephens C. (2000). Unspeakable emotion: A discursive analysis of police talk about reactions to trauma. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 19(3), 295–314.
26. Jenkins S. R. (1996). Social support and debriefing efficacy among emergency medical works after a mass shooting incident. Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality, 11(3), 477–491.
27. Kenardy J. A. Carr V. J. (2000). Debriefing post disaster: Follow-up after a major earthquake. In Raphael B. Wilson J. P. (Eds.), Psychological debriefing: Theory, practice and evidence (pp. 174–181). New York: Cambridge University Press.
28. Kenardy J. A. Webster R. A. Lewin J. T. Carr V. J. Hazell P. L. Carter G. L. (1996). Stress debriefing and patterns of recovery following a natural disaster. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 37–48.
29. Lee C. Slade P. Lygo V. (1996). The influence of psychological debriefing on emotion adaptation in women following early miscarriage. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 69, 47–58.
30. Lilienfeld S. O. (2007). Psychological Treatments That Cause Harm. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 53–70.
31. Litz B.T. Gray M. J. Bryant R. A. Adler A. B. (2002). Early intervention for trauma: Current status and future directions. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 9, 112–134.
32. Lyons J. A. (1991). Strategies for assessing the potential for positive readjustment following trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 4, 93–112.
33. Martin L. A. McKean H. E. Veltkamp L. J. (1986). Posttraumatic stress disorder in police and working with victims: A pilot study. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 14, 98–101.
34. McFarlane A. C. (1988). The longitudinal course of post-traumatic morbidity. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 176, 30–39.
35. McNally R. J. Bryant R. A. Ehlers A. (2003). Does early psychological intervention promote recovery from posttraumatic stress? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4, 45–79.
36. Miller I. (1996). Demography and attrition in the New Zealand Police, 1985–1995. Wellington: New Zealand Police National Headquarters.
37. Mitchell J. T. Bray G. P. (1990). Emergency services stress. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
38. New Zealand Police (1998). Attrition in the New Zealand Police: Proceedings of the Disengagement Summit. Wellington: New Zealand Police.
39. Norris F. H. (1990). Screening for traumatic stress: A scale of use in the general population. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 20, 1704–1718.
40. Paton D. (1997). Managing work-related psychological trauma: An organisational psychology of response and recovery. Australian Psychologist, 32(1), 46–55.
41. Paton D. Huddleston L. Stephens C. (2006). Conceptualizing traumatic stress in police officers: Pre-employment, critical incident and organizational influences. Traumatology, 12, 170–177.
42. Paton D. Smith L. M. (1995). Work-related psychological trauma: A review of methodological and assessment issues. Australian Psychologist, 30(3), 825–852.
43. Pennebaker J. W. (1982). Psychology of physical symptoms. New York: Springer-Verlag.
44. Raphael B. Meldrum L. McFarlane A. C. (1995). Does debriefing after psychological trauma work? British Medical Journal, 310 (6993), 1479–1480.
45. Raphael B. Wilson J. P. (Eds.). (2000). Psychological debriefing: Theory, practice and evidence. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.
46. Regehr C. Hill J. (2001). Evaluating the efficacy of crisis debriefing groups. Social Work with Groups, 23(3), 69–79.
47. Robinson H. M. Sigman M. R. Wilson J. P. (1997). Duty-related stressors and PTSD symptoms in suburban police officers. Psychological Reports, 81(3), 835–845.
48. Robinson R. C. Mitchell J. T. (1993). Evaluation of psychological debriefings. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 6(3), 367–382.
49. Rose S. Bisson J. (1998). Brief early psychological interventions following trauma: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 11(4), 697–710.
50. Rose S. Bisson J. Wessely S. (2003). A systematic review of single-session psychological interventions (‘debriefing’) following trauma. Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, 72(4), 176–184.
51. Sewell J. D. (1993). Traumatic stress of multiple murder investigations. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 6(1), 103–118.
52. Small R. Lumley J. Donohue L. Potter A. Waldenstrom U. (2000). Randomised controlled trial of midwife led debriefing to reduce maternal depression after operative childbirth. British Medical Journal, 321 (7268), 1043–1047.
53. Smith E. M. North C. S. (1993). Posttraumatic stress disorder in natural disasters and technological accidents. In Wilson J. P. Raphael B. (Eds.), International handbook of traumatic stress syndromes (pp. 405–419). New York: Plenum.
54. Soloman Z. Behbenishty R. (1986). The role of proximity, immediacy and expectancy in frontline treatment of combat stress reaction among Israelis in the Lebanon War. American Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 613–617.
55. Speilberger C. D. Westberry C. G. Grier K. S. Greenfield G. (1981). The Police Stress Survey: Sources of stress in law enforcement. Tampa, FL: Human Resources Institute.
56. Stephens C. Long N. (2000). Communication with police supervisors and peers as a buffer of work-related traumatic stress. Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 21, 407–424.
57. Stephens C. Long N. Miller I. (1997). The impact of trauma and social support on PTSD: A study of New Zealand Police Officers. Journal of Criminal Justice, 25, 303–314.
58. Stephens C. Miller I. (1998). Traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress disorder in the New Zealand Police. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management, 21, 178–191.
59. Stuhlmiller C. Dunning C. (2000). Challenging the mainstream: From pathogenic to salutogenic models of posttrauma intervention. In Violanti J. M. Paton D. Dunning C. (Eds.), Posttraumatic stress interventions: Challenges, issues and perspectives (pp. 11–41). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
60. Tedeschi R. G. Calhoun L. G. (1996). The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 455–471.
61. Turner S. W. Thompson J. Rosser R. M. (1993). The King's Cross fire: Early psychological reactions and implications for organising a ‘phase-two’ response. In Wilson J. P. Raphael B. (Eds.), International handbook of traumatic stress syndromes (pp. 451–459). New York: Plenum Press.
62. Violanti J. M. (1996). Trauma stress and police work. In Paton D. Violanti J. (Eds.), Traumatic stress in critical occupations: Recognition, consequences and treatment (pp. 87–112). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
63. Violanti J. M. (2000). Scripting trauma: The impact of pathogenic intervention. In Violanti J. M. Paton D. Dunning C. (Eds.), Post-traumatic stress intervention: Challenges, issues and perspectives (pp. 153–165). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
64. Weiss D. S. Marmar C. R. (1997). The Impact of Events Scale – Revised. In Wilson J. P. Keane T. M. (Eds.), Assessing psychological trauma and PTSD (pp. 399–411). Guilford: New York.
65. Wessely S. Rose S. Bisson J. (2000). Brief psychological interventions (‘debriefing’) for trauma-related symptoms and the prevention of post traumatic stress disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2: CD000560. Review. (Update in: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2002, 2: CD000560.)