Testing a Resilience Training Program in Police Recruits: A Pilot Study
Abstract
Background: Stress from multiple sources is inherent in law enforcement. However, it is possible to modify responses to stress with resilience training that includes teaching techniques to modify emotional and physical responses to stress, interface with mental health professionals, and practice sessions to improve self-regulation of responses to stress including coherence, a measure of heart rate variability. A gap exists in the research, however, regarding evaluation of the duration of effects after the initial resilience training. Method: Subjects included ( N = 34) recruits enrolled in summer 2015 at the Milwaukee Police Academy. An experimental design was used to compare recruits who received resilience training to recruits in the control group. Results: No statistically significant differences between the groups were found for self-reported measures of stress and resilience. For the treatment group ( n = 17), change in coherence was significant ( p < .001) and improvement in the Personal Organizational Quality Assessment Emotional Buoyancy subscale correlated significantly with the number of practice sessions ( r = .63, p = .01) and marginally with change in coherence ( r = .47, p = .07). Conclusion: Results confirm several significant effects of resilience training with recruits.
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Providing emotional self-regulation skills combined with heart rhythm coherence training results in significant improvements in communication, employee satisfaction, productivity, problem solving, reduced turnover, and a significant return on investment, both financially and socially.
“It has been shown that providing emotional self-regulation skills combined with heart rhythm coherence training results in significant improvements in communication, employee satisfaction, productivity, problem solving, reduced turnover, and a significant return on investment, both financially and socially (15, 67, 73, 86, 90–92).”
From New Frontiers in Heart Rate Variability and Social Coherence Research: Techniques, Technologies, and Implications for Improving Group Dynamics and Outcomes (2017) · cites this paper as [86]
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- Authors
- Ramey, S. L., Perkhounkova, Y., Hein, M., Bohr, N. L., & Anderson, A. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Iowa (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ramey, Sandra L.
- Venue
- Biological Research For Nursing
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-03-30
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 440-449
- ISSN
- 1099-8004 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-4175
- OpenAlex
- W2600324660
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 3.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Biological Research For Nursing (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Community Oriented Policing Services
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Keywords
- resilience training, police cadets, occupational stress, heart rate variability, coherence, self-regulation, law enforcement, police academy
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Pilot Projects, Stress, Psychological, Wisconsin, Police, Resilience, Psychological
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