Law Enforcement Officer Stress: An Examination of Compassion Fatigue and Additional Job-Related Stressors
Guardado en:
| Publicado en: | ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (2025) |
|---|---|
| Autor principal: | |
| Publicado: |
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Citation/Abstract Full Text - PDF |
| Etiquetas: |
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
|
| Resumen: | Law enforcement is considered one of the most stressful careers due to the variety of traumatic events that they will witness, among other stress-related factors. The act of witnessing traumatic events is known as secondary trauma or secondary traumatic stress, which may result in an individual experiencing or suffering from compassion fatigue. This paper undertook exploratory analysis of the on-the-job (OTJ) stressors and related factors that LEOs within Southwest Florida face and determined whether those LEOs exhibit characteristics or symptoms aligned with compassion fatigue. Utilizing convenience sampling along with snowball sampling the sample population (n=22) held positions of varying ranks, were from several agencies, and different departments and units within an agency and had varying amounts of law enforcement experience (x̄=11.64 years of service). Although generalizability is limited, given the diversity of the sample size, in several aspects, consistent themes permeated across southwest Florida LEOs. Particularly, field-note analysis showed a arguably fractured yet close-nit agency culture specifically from an “us versus them” mentality, between administrations of most every agency in the sample population; reliance and positive support system from colleagues, peers, and direct supervisors; distress from a perceived lack of trust and confidence for new recruits/LEOs from senior personnel; lastly, an acceptance of compulsory departmental transfers, both as a form of punishment and as a advancement in an agency. Mitigating exposure to primary trauma (i.e. trauma) and secondary trauma LEOs employ a habit of emotionally numbing themselves in order to effectively and efficiently perform job duties. This thesis has also adapted several definitions of compassion fatigue developing a novel and comprehensive definition of compassion fatigue. |
|---|---|
| ISBN: | 9798315792789 |
| Fuente: | ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global |