A Pilot Trial of Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training Among Police Officers

August 27, 2018 updated by: Michael Christopher, PhD, Pacific University
Successful policing requires rapid and unbiased decision-making, well-developed emotion regulation skills, and psychological resilience. However, law enforcement officers (LEOs) are frequently exposed to intensive work-related stress and trauma, and consequently, are at elevated risk of adverse mental health outcomes. These mental health issues in turn are some of the primary mechanisms underlying other- and self-directed violence among LEOs. The excessive use of force by LEOs, including unjustified shootings, frequently captures national headlines and is considered by many to be one of the most serious and divisive human rights issues in the United States. Previous research suggests that LEOs can be impacted by various factors when making rapid decisions while using firearms, including a lack of careful consideration of contextual factors and unconscious racial stereotypes. This is especially true when their cognitive and emotional resources are compromised due to factors such as stress. Similarly, key precursors to suicide among LEOs include chronic stress, exposure to trauma, alcohol misuse, and depression. The substantial personal, social, and economic costs of LEO stress, including unjustified shootings and suicide, suggest a clear need for innovative and novel prevention programs to promote well-being and reduce violence. Given its demonstrated impact on many of the precursors to self- and other-directed violence among LEOs, one possible approach is an adapted Mindfulness-Based Stress-Reduction (MBSR) program, developed specifically for LEOs. Therefore, the primary objectives of this proposal are to: (1) assess the feasibility of recruitment, adherence to program intervention, and compliance with assessment instruments, and (2) determine the impact of an adapted MBSR program (Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training; MBRT) on precursors to other- and self-directed violence, and in promoting psychological resilience and emotion regulation among LEOs. There is promising preliminary evidence suggesting that mindfulness is an effective strategy for LEOs to decrease stress and its negative outcomes, enhance resilience and emotion regulation, and ultimately reduce other- and self-directed violence. The proposed project will test the impact of MBRT using a pilot feasibility randomized controlled trial (RCT). This research will generate important information on the feasibility of recruitment, adherence to program intervention, and compliance with assessment instruments, and data obtained through the proposed study will build on the investigators existing work to provide support for a larger RCT examining the efficacy of MBRT in reducing violence.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

61

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Oregon
      • Forest Grove, Oregon, United States, 97116
        • Pacific University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

21 years to 55 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • full-time, active status, sworn-in law enforcement officers in the Portland Metro area

Exclusion Criteria:

  • previously completed MBRT or MBSR course

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: MBRT
Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training
Behavioral: MBRT
No Intervention: WL Control
waitlist control group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Depression Scores on the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)
Time Frame: 6 months
6 months
Decision Making as measured by the Shooter Bias Task
Time Frame: 8 weeks
8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Pacific University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 1, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 6, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 11, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

August 13, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 29, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 27, 2018

Last Verified

August 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1R21AT008854-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

We are committed to advancing knowledge in the scientific community and the role that data sharing takes in this endeavor. We commit to compliance with NIH policies regarding sharing of unique research resources and compliance with the NIH Principles and Guidelines for Recipients of NIH Research Grants and Contracts on Obtaining and Disseminating Biomedical Research Resources (64 FR 72090, December 23, 1999). The data generated in this grant will be presented at national or international conferences and published in a timely fashion. All final peer-reviewed manuscripts that arise from this proposal will be submitted to the digital archive PubMed Central.

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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