One of the most neglected areas of criminological and social science research is the police communications or dispatch center. While research projects dealing with stress and job satisfaction are found in abundance for other occupations, studies specific to the police dispatcher are uncommon. The role of the dispatcher has changed significantly in the last few decades. Improvements in technology and changes in public expectations of emergency services have forever altered the communications professional. Dispatchers work in an environment reliant on information. There is tremendous pressure to process the information coming into a communications center quickly and correctly. A mistake could prove fatal. Work pressures, burnout, high employee turnover, low pay, and a lack of respect from police coworkers can easily result in negative emotional and psychological consequences for the dispatcher. An effective manager could reduce the feelings of stress and low job satisfaction this environment can facilitate. The current study utilizes survey data from a sample of police dispatchers and their managers in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area. The purpose of the survey is to identify the level of stress and job satisfaction reported by the dispatchers and their managers. The effects of differing types of stress will be investigated. Other relationships such as length of service, education, gender, ethnicity, and agency size will also be addressed.

No description available.

Public safety radio dispatchers incontrovertibly have to manage multiple tasks at any given time, from relaying lifesaving information to field units, to simultaneously overseeing several monitors and keeping up with the radio transmissions in a timely manner. Interestingly, however, the underlying cognitive abilities necessitated for performing such tasks have not been thoroughly investigated. To begin understanding the cognitive faculties that underlie dispatching tasks, we gauged cognitive ability measures relevant to dispatcher duties and introduced Working Memory Capacity (WMC) as underlying the differentiation on performance. The four general dispatcher cognitive factors identified by Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) literature, were Reasoning, Perceptual, Memory, and Verbal. This study substantiated the relationship that higher WMC had on increased performance of the four factors; WMC was a strong predictor of overall cognitive task accuracy. This study also measured dispatcher abilities detached from any dispatcher-like duties, to better explore the cognitive underpinnings without the confound of dispatcher-like tasks within the measures. High and low WMC group comparisons also revealed accuracy differences in cognitive abilities, task switching costs, and dual-task interference. Overall, this study provides support for WMC’s executive functioning as a key underlying mechanism determining dispatcher cognitive ability level.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a diagnosis given after the development of maladaptive behavior following exposure to traumatic events. This is the first quantitative study regarding the Swedish emergency dispatching population (n = 97) and posttraumatic (secondary traumatic) stress. The main research question for this study was: “How prevalent are clinically significant posttraumatic stress symptoms among Swedish emergency dispatchers?”; the secondary research question formed became: “What relationship, if any, can be found between the prevalence of clinically significant posttraumatic stress symptoms and other psychological ailments such as depression and burnout?”. The study used a digital questionnaire containing the screening tests ProQoL, MADRS-S and PCL-C to examine the prevalence of symptomology among dispatchers. The participants answers are then analyzed using correlation matrices, one sample t-tests, reliability analyses and descriptives to identify correlations, prevalence rates and other statistically significant items. 57 of the 97 respondents (58.8%) reported symptoms that were above the cutoff to suspect moderate PTSD, 50 of the 97 respondents (51.5%) reported symptoms that were above the cutoff to suspect mild depression and 76 of the 97 respondents (76.3%) reported symptoms that were above the cutoff to suspect burnout. The study concludes that there is an elevated prevalence of PTSD symptoms among Swedish emergency dispatchers (Student’s t = 3.85, Cohen’s d = 0.391, p <.001) and that these symptoms are significantly and positively correlated to symptoms of burnout (r = 0.740, p < .001) and depression (r = 0.820, p < .001). / Posttraumatiskt stresstillstånd (PTSD) är en diagnos som ges efter utvecklingen av maladaptive beteende till följd av exponering till traumatiska händelser. Detta är den första kvantitativa studie som riktar sig mot den svenska nödsamtalsoperatörs populationen (n = 97) angående posttraumatisk (sekundär traumatisk) stress. Den primära frågeställningen i denna studie blev: “Hur prevalent är klinisk signifikant posttraumatiskt stressymptom hos svenska nödsamtalsoperatörer?”; den sekundära frågeställningen blev: ”Vilken relation, om någon, kan finnas mellan prevalensen av klinisk signifikanta posttraumatiska stressymptom och andra tillstånd av psykologisk ohälsa såsom depression och utmattning?”. Studien använde ett digitalt frågeformulär som innehöll screeningtesterna ProQoL, MADRS-S och PCL-C för att undersöka prevalensen av symptombilden hos nödsamtalsoperatörer.  Deltagarnas svar analyserades med hjälp av korrelationsmatriser, one sample t-tester, reliabilitets analyser samt descriptives för att identifiera korrelationer, prevalensen samt andra signifikanta statistik. 57 utav 97 respondenter (58,8%) rapporterade symptom som låg över gränsen för att misstänka måttlig PTSD, 50 utav 97 respondenter (51,5%) rapporterade symptom som låg över gränsen för att misstänka mild depression och 76 utav 97 respondenter (76,3%) rapporterade symptom som låg över gränsen för att misstänka utmattning. Studien drar slutsatsen att det finns en högre prevalens av PTSD symptom hos svenska nödsamtalsoperatörer (Student’s t = 3,85, Cohen’s d = 0,391, p <,001) samt att dessa symptom är signifikant och positivt korrelerade med symptomen för både utmattning (r = 0,740, p < ,001) och depression (r = 0,820, p < ,001).

Thèse de doctorat présenté en vue de l'obtention du doctorat en psychologie - recherche intervention, option psychologie clinique (Ph.D) / La gestion des réactions de stress post-traumatique dans les premiers jours suivant l’exposition à un événement traumatique (ÉT) au travail reste un défi pour les organisations de premiers répondants et répondantes d’urgence tels que les services médicaux d’urgence (SMU) dans lesquels travaillent les paramédics et les répartitrices et répartiteurs médicaux d’urgence (RMU). Ces travailleurs et travailleuses sont particulièrement exposés à des situations traumatiques imprévisibles et récurrentes, qui les rendent plus à risque de vivre de la détresse et des difficultés d’adaptation. Les recherches doivent se poursuivre pour savoir comment intervenir auprès de ces personnes, car à l’heure actuelle aucune intervention n’a démontré une efficacité suffisante. L’approche des Premiers Soins Psychologiques (PSP), informée par les données probantes, vise à réduire la détresse initiale et promouvoir des stratégies d’adaptation chez les individus exposés à un ÉT. Elle peut être délivrée par des paires aidantes et pairs aidants précocement, en accord avec des directives internationales. Cette approche est encore peu étudiée par la recherche scientifique. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’identifier comment l’approche des PSP peut s’intégrer auprès de paramédics et RMU. Une première étude a été menée auprès de 11 paires aidantes et pairs aidants afin d’explorer qualitativement les facteurs qui peuvent influencer l’adhésion dans le temps des bénéficiaires et des paires aidantes et pairs aidants dans leur participation à l’intervention des PSP, grâce à des entretiens semi-structurés individuels. Quatre thèmes et 11 sous- thèmes influençant l’adhésion ont été identifiés : (1) perceptions et attitudes individuelles des paires aidantes et pairs aidants et des bénéficiaires à l’égard des PSP ; (2) impacts perçus sur les paires aidantes et pairs aidants et les bénéficiaires ; (3) soutien organisationnel aux PSP et (4) congruence avec la culture professionnelle. Les résultats de cette étude suggèrent qu’il est possible d’agir sur divers facteurs au niveau individuel, organisationnel et culturel pour améliorer l’adhésion et qu’il faut surveiller les facteurs pouvant nuire à l’intervention des PSP dans le temps. Une seconde étude qualitative a exploré la perception des bénéficiaires (n=13) de l’intervention des PSP. Les résultats semblent indiquer que l’intervention des PSP permet de répondre aux besoins immédiats des travailleurs et travailleuses en accord avec les cinq principes essentiels d’une intervention précoce de Hobfoll (Hobfoll et al., 2007). L’intervention des PSP favoriserait également l’adaptation et le rétablissement après un ÉT, en contribuant à réduire la stigmatisation de la santé mentale, à augmenter les comportements de recherche d’aide et à diminuer les impacts négatifs organisationnels. Enfin, des éléments spécifiques à l’intervention ont été identifiés comme favorisant l’appréciation de l’intervention. L’identification de ces composantes nous donne des pistes d’amélioration de l’intervention afin de guider au mieux les organisations dans l’implantation et la mise en œuvre des PSP. Ces résultats qualitatifs peuvent également contribuer à informer de futures études quantitatives quant aux directions à prendre pour tester l’efficacité des PSP. Les résultats issus de ces deux articles ont permis de contribuer au développement de la littérature scientifique sur la pertinence et la façon dont peut s’intégrer l’intervention des PSP dans les organisations de premiers répondants et répondantes d’urgence en agissant sur divers facteurs au niveau individuel, organisationnel et culturel et ainsi améliorer l’adhésion dans le temps. Ils mettent aussi en lumière les bénéfices possibles des PSP et offrent des pistes concrètes d’amélioration pour les organisations qui souhaitent implanter ou bonifier la mise en œuvre des PSP comme intervention post-traumatique précoce auprès de leur personnel. / Managing post-traumatic stress reactions during the first days following exposure to a traumatic event (TE) at work remains a challenge for first responder organizations such as emergency medical services (EMS) (p.ex. paramedics and emergency medical dispatchers). These workers are particularly exposed to unpredictable and recurring traumatic situations, which puts them at increased risk for distress and adjustment difficulties. More research is needed to determine how to intervene with these people as no intervention has yet been shown to be sufficiently effective. The evidence informed Psychological First Aid (PFA) approach aims to reduce initial distress and promote coping strategies in individuals exposed to a TE. It can be early delivered by peer helpers, congruently with international guidelines. This approach is still largely unexplored in the scientific literature. The purpose of this thesis is to identify how the PFA approach can be integrated among paramedics and emergency medical dispatchers. The first paper was conducted with 11 peer helpers to qualitatively explore factors that may influence adherence over time of recipients and peer helpers in their participation in the PFA intervention, through individual semi-structured interviews. Four themes and 11 subthemes influencing adherence were identified: (1) individual perceptions and attitudes of peer helpers and recipients about PFA intervention; (2) perceived impacts on peer helpers and recipients; (3) organizational support to PFA intervention; and (4) congruence with the occupational culture. The results of this study suggest that a variety of factors can be acted upon to improve adherence and that factors that may interfere with PFA involvement over time should be monitored. A second paper explored recipients’ (n=13) perceptions of the PFA intervention. The results of the thematic analysis suggest that the PFA intervention addresses the immediate needs of workers in accordance with Hobfoll’s five essential principles of early intervention (Hobfoll et al., 2007). This intervention would also promote adjustment and recovery after a TE, regarding the reduction of stigma, the increase of help-seeking behaviours, and the decrease of organizational difficulties. Finally, specific components regarding the intervention or the provider were identified as promoting appreciation of the PFA intervention. The identification of these components provides us with avenues for intervention improvement to best guide first responder organizations in the implementation and delivery of PFA. These qualitative findings also help to inform future quantitative studies as to which directions to take to test the effectiveness of this intervention. The results of these two articles have contributed to the development of the scientific literature on whether and how to integrate the PFA intervention in first responder organizations. They highlighted the possible benefits of such an intervention and offered concrete avenues for improvement for organizations wishing to implement or improve the implementation of PFA as an early post-traumatic intervention for their personnel.