Mindfulness-based Intervention in Police Officers - the POLICE Study

imPact Of a mindfuLness-based Intervention on Quality of Life and reduCtion of Burnout Symptoms in policE Officers - the POLICE Study

The physical, emotional, economic and social damage of stress in the police corporation indicates an urgent call for preventive programs to approach stress reduction, burnout symptoms and promotion of quality of life and well-being.

The aim of the POLICE study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a Mindfulness-based intervention (MBI), compare to a waiting list (WL), in promoting quality of life and mental health in police officers.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Quality of Life; Burnout Syndrome; Mindfulness; Police
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mindfulness-based Intervention

Detailed Description

Police officers are submitted to a high burden of chronic stress. It is no surprise to find that this occupation ranks highest on diseases and accidents rates among all professions. These professionals presents a very high incidence of depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol dependence and suicidal behavior. In addition to mental health suffering, evidence suggests an increase risk of sudden cardiac death, diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Mindfulness-based interventions have been tested and incorporated for several clinical and non-clinical conditions for more than three decades, with emphasis on stress reduction, promotion of quality of life, chronic pain, anxiety, depression and eating disorders.

The main hypothesis is that mindfulness training will improve their quality of life and reduce burnout symptoms. The investigators expect that individuals allocated in the MBI group will report, besides showing a better quality of life, mental health and less burnout, lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression symptoms.

With regard to the working mechanism of the MBI, investigators will examine if the changes in mindfulness trait, self-compassion, spirituality, decentering and resilience skills will mediate the main hypothesis.

The study will be conducted in Porto Alegre-RS and São Paulo-SP.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 170
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 21 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Active Police Officers
• Availability to attend 8 sessions
• Willingness to voluntarily participation

Exclusion Criteria:

• Manic or hypomanic episode (current)
• Psychotic syndrome (current or past)
• Substance Use Disorder (past 12 months, except tobacco)
• Risk of suicide
• Previously completed Mindfulness-Based Intervention

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Mindfulness; Mindfulness-based Intervention (8 sessions - 2 hours each- 1 session/week)	Behavioral: Mindfulness-based Intervention
No Intervention: Control; Waiting List

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline quality of Life	A mindfulness intervention increase quality of life (measured by change in Whoqol-Bref scale).	8 weeks and 6 months
Change from baseline burnout symptoms	A mindfulness intervention decrease burnout symptoms (measured by change in MBI-GS scale)	8 weeks and 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change from baseline stress levels	A mindfulness intervention decreases stress levels (measured by change in PSQ scale)	8 weeks and 6 months
Change from baseline anxiety and depression symptoms	A mindfulness intervention reduces anxiety and depression symptoms (measured by change in HADS scale)	8 weeks and 6 months
Change from baseline Mental health	A mindfulness intervention increases mental health (measured by change in GHQ-12 scale)	8 weeks and 6 months
Change from baseline decentering skills	A mindfulness intervention increases decentering skills (measured by change in EQ scale)	8 weeks and 6 months
Change from baseline resilience	A mindfulness intervention increases resilience capacity (measured by change in CD-RISC-25 scale)	8 weeks and 6 months
Change from baseline spirituality, religiosity, personal beliefs	A mindfulness intervention increases spirituality, religiosity and personal beliefs (measured by change in WHOQOL-SRPB-BREF scale)	8 weeks and 6 months
Change from baseline religiosity	A mindfulness intervention increases religiosity (measured by change in DUREL scale)	8 weeks and 6 months
Change from baseline mindfulness trait	A mindfulness intervention increases mindfulness trait (measured by change in MAAS scale)	8 weeks and 6 months
Change from baseline self-compassion	A mindfulness intervention increases self-compassion (measured by change in SCS scale)	8 weeks and 6 months
Change from baseline Burnout subtypes	A mindfulness intervention decrease burnout symptoms according to burnout subtypes (measured by change in BCSQ-12 scale)	8 weeks and 6 months
Mindfulness mechanisms	Self-compassion (SCS scale) will mediate quality of life enhancement and burnout symptoms reduction in police officers	6 months
Mindfulness mechanisms	Resilience capacity (CD-RISC-25 scale) will mediate quality of life enhancement and burnout symptoms reduction in police officers	6 months
Mindfulness mechanisms	Decentering skills (EQ scale) will mediate quality of life enhancement and burnout symptoms reduction in police officers	6 months
Mindfulness mechanisms	Spirituality (WHOQOL-SRPB-BREF scale) will mediate quality of life enhancement and burnout symptoms reduction in police officers	6 months
Mindfulness mechanisms	Religiosity (DUREL scale) will mediate quality of life enhancement and burnout symptoms reduction in police officers	6 months
Mindfulness mechanisms	Mindfulness trait (MAAS scale) will mediate quality of life enhancement and burnout symptoms reduction in police officers	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre
• Collaborators: Centro Mente Aberta de Mindfulness
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Neusa Sica da Rocha, MD, PhD, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre; Principal Investigator: Marcelo Marcos Piva Demarzo, MD, PhD, UNIFESP - Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Trombka M, Demarzo M, Campos D, Antonio SB, Cicuto K, Walcher AL, Garcia-Campayo J, Schuman-Olivier Z, Rocha NS. Mindfulness Training Improves Quality of Life and Reduces Depression and Anxiety Symptoms Among Police Officers: Results From the POLICE Study-A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial. Front Psychiatry. 2021 Feb 26;12:624876. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.624876. eCollection 2021.
• Trombka M, Demarzo M, Bacas DC, Antonio SB, Cicuto K, Salvo V, Claudino FCA, Ribeiro L, Christopher M, Garcia-Campayo J, Rocha NS. Study protocol of a multicenter randomized controlled trial of mindfulness training to reduce burnout and promote quality of life in police officers: the POLICE study. BMC Psychiatry. 2018 May 25;18(1):151. doi: 10.1186/s12888-018-1726-7.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 10, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 1, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): November 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 21, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 10, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): April 14, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 7, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 4, 2019
• Last Verified: March 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Stress, Psychological; Burnout, Psychological
• Other Study ID Numbers: 60406416.9.1001.5327; 160491 (Other Identifier: HCPA)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No