Resilience pathways and help-seeking preferences for Ontario police services

Despite the availability of mental health services, post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSI) among Canadian police services members continue to be significantly more prevalent than in the general population. The purpose of this study was to identify sources of resilience and help-seeking preferences a...

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Main Authors: Eliana B. Suarez, Harrison Oakes, Eleanor McGrath
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SG Publishing 2023-03-01
Series:Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/307
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author Eliana B. Suarez
Harrison Oakes
Eleanor McGrath
author_facet Eliana B. Suarez
Harrison Oakes
Eleanor McGrath
author_sort Eliana B. Suarez
collection DOAJ
description Despite the availability of mental health services, post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSI) among Canadian police services members continue to be significantly more prevalent than in the general population. The purpose of this study was to identify sources of resilience and help-seeking preferences among Ontario police personnel. We used a path analysis of online survey data to test the direct and indirect effects of mental and physical health, stress, health literacy, and attitudes toward mental health treatment on life satisfaction, community belonging, and resilience, while controlling for social contextual factors. Self-rated mental health, life satisfaction, and community belonging directly predicted resilience. Multiple positive indirect effects on resilience emerged, including from attitudes towards mental health treatment via community belonging, and mental health and community belonging, both via life satisfaction. Life stress had a negative indirect effect on resilience via life satisfaction. This study offers initial evidence of factors that influence resilience among police personnel and suggests that efforts to support resilience in this population may be well served by focusing on enhancing life satisfaction and community belonging.
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spelling doaj.art-7cf10926f9984c418ee370f407db549f2023-12-02T10:24:00ZengSG PublishingJournal of Community Safety and Well-Being2371-42982023-03-018110.35502/jcswb.307Resilience pathways and help-seeking preferences for Ontario police servicesEliana B. Suarez0Harrison Oakes1Eleanor McGrath2Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada.Social Research Institute, University College London, London, UK.Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada. Despite the availability of mental health services, post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSI) among Canadian police services members continue to be significantly more prevalent than in the general population. The purpose of this study was to identify sources of resilience and help-seeking preferences among Ontario police personnel. We used a path analysis of online survey data to test the direct and indirect effects of mental and physical health, stress, health literacy, and attitudes toward mental health treatment on life satisfaction, community belonging, and resilience, while controlling for social contextual factors. Self-rated mental health, life satisfaction, and community belonging directly predicted resilience. Multiple positive indirect effects on resilience emerged, including from attitudes towards mental health treatment via community belonging, and mental health and community belonging, both via life satisfaction. Life stress had a negative indirect effect on resilience via life satisfaction. This study offers initial evidence of factors that influence resilience among police personnel and suggests that efforts to support resilience in this population may be well served by focusing on enhancing life satisfaction and community belonging. https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/307Mental healthwell-beingcommunity belongingstructural equation modeling
spellingShingle Eliana B. Suarez
Harrison Oakes
Eleanor McGrath
Resilience pathways and help-seeking preferences for Ontario police services
Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being
Mental health
well-being
community belonging
structural equation modeling
title Resilience pathways and help-seeking preferences for Ontario police services
title_full Resilience pathways and help-seeking preferences for Ontario police services
title_fullStr Resilience pathways and help-seeking preferences for Ontario police services
title_full_unstemmed Resilience pathways and help-seeking preferences for Ontario police services
title_short Resilience pathways and help-seeking preferences for Ontario police services
title_sort resilience pathways and help seeking preferences for ontario police services
topic Mental health
well-being
community belonging
structural equation modeling
url https://www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cswb/article/view/307
work_keys_str_mv AT elianabsuarez resiliencepathwaysandhelpseekingpreferencesforontariopoliceservices
AT harrisonoakes resiliencepathwaysandhelpseekingpreferencesforontariopoliceservices
AT eleanormcgrath resiliencepathwaysandhelpseekingpreferencesforontariopoliceservices