What is it about?
This research looks at the effects of an 8-week mindfulness training program, designed specifically for police officers, on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and sleep quality. Mindfulness training led to lower PTSD symptoms and improved self-reported sleep quality, but had no impact on objective sleep quality using wrist-worn devices. Police officers who had the greatest improvement in PTSD symptoms also showed greater improvements in self-reported sleep quality.
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Why is it important?
High rates of exposure to trauma in police officers negatively affect officer mental health and sleep quality. In turn, the job performance of officers with greater trauma-related symptoms and sleep impairments suffers, with negative ripple effects for members of the community. Our results show that reductions in PTSD symptoms after a mindfulness training program are related to improved sleep. This kind of training may thus have benefits for not only police mental and physical health, but indirect benefits for community well-being.
Perspectives
I hope that this article underscores the point that programs or initiatives need not privilege police officer well-being or community well-being at the expense of the other group. Rather, I see the well-being of police officers and the communities they serve as linked to one another. All of these individuals are impacted by trauma, either directly or indirectly, and interventions that address the consequences of trauma for one group can similarly have indirect benefits for the other.
Dr Daniel W Grupe
University of Wisconsin Madison
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The impact of mindfulness training on posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, subjective sleep quality, and objective sleep outcomes in police officers., Psychological Trauma Theory Research Practice and Policy, August 2023, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/tra0001566.
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