This study investigated what helps and what hinders RCMP officers in being meaningfully engaged in their work. Experiencing workplace engagement is becoming increasingly meaningful and important for both workers and employers in the new economy. The study is important to the field of counselling, and related fields such as organizational psychology, in terms of both theory and practice, as it concretely expands our understanding of the experience of workplace engagement for workers. In this study, the participants consisted of 14 male RCMP officers and 11 female RCMP officers. Participants were all posted in the Greater Vancouver area at the time of the study, although officers had previously been posted at a variety o f locations throughout Canada. Officers were individually interviewed using a semi-structured, open-ended interview consistent with Flanagan's (1954) Critical Incident Technique. In total, 370 critical incidents were elicited from the 25 participants. Critical incidents helping officers experience meaningful engagement in their work totaled 197. Critical incidents hindering officers in experiencing meaningful engagement in their work totaled 173. The critical incidents were then grouped into 19 categories based on the nature of the incident and the meaning the incident held for the officer. To address reliability in categorizing incidents, two independent judges categorized a sampling o f incidents. In both cases judges agreed with the researcher's categorization in over 90% of incidents. Four participants were also presented with their own critical incidents, and asked to categorize them. Again participants agreed with the researcher's categorization in over 90% of incidents. The main categories identified in this the study were supervision, police incidents, perceived organizational support, transfer, personal circumstances, and peers. In each of these categories both helping and hindering critical incidents were identified by participants. This study provides a detailed description and analysis of the critical incidents that help or hinder RCMP officers in being meaningfully engaged in their work.

Thesis (Ph.D.(Practical theology)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-156).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 65).

Thesis(M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro / Title from PDF t.p.(viewed May 27, 2009). Advisor: Saundra Westervelt; submitted to the Dept. of Sociology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-130).

D.Ed. / The research nature of this study was primarily explorative, and also descriptive. The objective of this study was to explore and describe community experiences of aggressive behaviour exhibited by police officials towards them. This research was of a qualitative nature. Four steps of psycho-educational programme development were followed. In the first step a situational analysis was carried out. The sampling component was purposively selected police officials working under the jurisdiction of specific police stations in Gauteng Province and community members as victims of aggression at the hands of police officials. Data gathering methods used in this research were phenomenological individual and focus group interviews and observations. The researcher conducted the observation for this study during interviews and field notes were written during interview process. The researcher conducted interviews with victims of aggressive behaviour by police officials and other participants were police officials and stakeholders who are dealing with inappropriate behaviour of police officials. The participants had to comment on their experiences of aggression exhibited by police officials and other participants who are police officials in the South African Police Service talk about their experiences when they were involved in aggressive action towards the community. These interviews formed the basis of this study to facilitate the attainment of the primary objective, which was to explore and describe the experience of aggression behaviour exhibited by Police officials towards the community. The data from these interviews were analysed using an open coding method. An independent coder did an analysis independent from the researcher. A consensus validation discussion was held with the independent coder on the codification of the data. The detailed discussion of results obtained from the interviews and observations were presented in verbatim quotes, descriptive and reflective notes and the illustration of emergent themes and categories. Rigour and adequacy were ensured by data collected and the results obtained from data analysis indicated convergence and saturation. The integration of trustworthiness, that is, credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were applied throughout the study. Ethical considerations and consent letters were presented to the participants, including preserving of anonymity, confidentiality, voluntary participation, understood consent and the ethical role of the researcher has adhered to. The research is very important as the experiences of aggression by community members were explored and described. The research results indicated that there is tension among the community and police officials in the South African Police Service. The Police officials under study are demoralised and tend to become negative towards the public because they are of the opinion that enough is not done to support them in performing their difficult duties. It is evident from the results that there is lack of effective communication stakeholders who are dealing with inappropriate behaviour in the South African Police Service with other structures like the Independent Complaints Directorate. In step two the psycho-educational programme was developed. Firstly a conceptual framework was derived from the result of step one. The conceptual framework served as framework of reference for the description of a psycho-educational programme. In step three the programme was implemented and in step four the programme was evaluated. In conclusion, it is evident that aggression really exists in the workplace and officials are affected by such aggression. The recommendations of dealing with aggressive behaviour exhibited by police officials towards the community was done in line with the situational analysis after the conclusion drawn from the findings and were described in a psycho-educational perspective.

M.A. / The South African Police Service (SAPS) has an immense responsibility in terms of providing a safe and secure environment for every individual residing in South Africa. Members of this organisation conduct their duties under difficult and often dangerous conditions. These taxing working conditions add tremendous stress to the lives of police officials (Violanti, 1997). The stressors faced by police officials may vary with regard to frequency and intensity. Stressors associated with the working environment may spill over into their personal lives and may also lead to negativity at work which can also affect the quality of service that should be provided by police officials in South Africa. Various factors can be implicated in the stress process (Sulsky & Smith, 2005). Specific ways of coping have been identified in previous and current literature (Suls & Fletcher, 1985; Swanepoel & Pienaar, 2004). The present study focused on identifying a relationship between personality and coping. The coping styles that South African police officials employ also received some attention. Personality was defined as characteristics of the person that account for consistent patterns of feelings, thinking and behaviour. This study focused on the Five Factor Model in the conceptualisation and understanding of personality. The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between personality and coping amongst members of the SAPS. Each participant (N = 125) completed a consent form, a biographical questionnaire, the Coping Orientations to Problems Experienced questionnaire (COPE; Carver et al., 1989) and the Basic Traits Inventory (Taylor & De Bruin, 2006). The first research question related to coping strategies South African police officials employ. The second research question focused on what the relationship between the individual Big Five personality traits (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) and the coping styles (Problem-focused Coping, Emotion-focused Coping and Dysfunctional Coping) of police officials in South Africa.A non-experimental survey design was implemented in this study. Differential and inferential statistics were used to identify the most commonly used coping strategies and the relationship that exists between coping and personality. Examination of the individual personality traits in relation to coping was done through the use of Pearson’s product-moment correlations. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 15). The results indicated that Extroversion (r = 0.27; p < 0.01), Conscientiousness (r = 0.31; p < 0.01), Agreeableness (r = 0.40; p < 0.01) and Openness to Experience (r = 0.45; p < 0.01) had statistically significant positive relationships with Problem-focused Coping. Neuroticism (r = 0.39; p < 0.01) showed a statistically significant positive correlation with Dysfunctional Coping. Openness to Experience (r = 0.23; p < 0.05) and Agreeableness (r = 0.35; p < 0.01) displayed a statistically significant positive correlation with Emotion-focused Coping. Results in this study indicate that members of the SAPS lean towards using Problemfocused and Emotion-focused strategies rather than Dysfunctional Coping strategies. This study has implications for organisations such as the SAPS as it shed light on the different ways in which individuals are predisposed to cope with stress. It also highlights the influence of personality in the stress process and offers insight into possible ways in which individuals generally cope with stress.

This study investigated what helps and what hinders RCMP officers in being meaningfully engaged in their work. Experiencing workplace engagement is becoming increasingly meaningful and important for both workers and employers in the new economy. The study is important to the field of counselling, and related fields such as organizational psychology, in terms of both theory and practice, as it concretely expands our understanding of the experience of workplace engagement for workers. In this study, the participants consisted of 14 male RCMP officers and 11 female RCMP officers. Participants were all posted in the Greater Vancouver area at the time of the study, although officers had previously been posted at a variety o f locations throughout Canada. Officers were individually interviewed using a semi-structured, open-ended interview consistent with Flanagan's (1954) Critical Incident Technique. In total, 370 critical incidents were elicited from the 25 participants. Critical incidents helping officers experience meaningful engagement in their work totaled 197. Critical incidents hindering officers in experiencing meaningful engagement in their work totaled 173. The critical incidents were then grouped into 19 categories based on the nature of the incident and the meaning the incident held for the officer. To address reliability in categorizing incidents, two independent judges categorized a sampling o f incidents. In both cases judges agreed with the researcher's categorization in over 90% of incidents. Four participants were also presented with their own critical incidents, and asked to categorize them. Again participants agreed with the researcher's categorization in over 90% of incidents. The main categories identified in this the study were supervision, police incidents, perceived organizational support, transfer, personal circumstances, and peers. In each of these categories both helping and hindering critical incidents were identified by participants. This study provides a detailed description and analysis of the critical incidents that help or hinder RCMP officers in being meaningfully engaged in their work. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This thesis analyzes the training and perceptions on mental health of a particular population. Through the use of previous research and literature, a survey was generated and distributed to the population. The findings were used to generate policy implications for the specific population that was analyzed.

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / The high incidence of suicide and medical boardings for psychological reasons in the South African Police Service necessitated an investigation into whether officers who seek medical help have been exposed to more traumatic violence than those who do not seek assistance. A Group of policemen who had sought psychiatric help was compared with a control group of officers who had not sought assistance in terms of the nature and seriousness of posttraumatic stress disorder. depression. anxiety and other stress factors. The experimental group revealed significantly higher levels of posttraumatic stress disorder. depression and anxiety than the control group. This was related to more exposure to situations of personal threat and a predisposition to trait anxiety. Other negative life experiences did not have a meaningful impact. Of importance is the fact that the control group that did not seek assistance. in comparison with the general population. nonetheless displayed significant levels of posttraumatic stress disorder. This group however responded more stable family relationships and social support than the officers seeking psychiatric help. These variables may play a moderating role in the prevention of psychiatric symptomatology in members of the South African Police Service who are exposed to traumatic stress.

M.A. / Stress related problems within the South African Police service have escalated in recent years. Symptoms that can be identified are the high number of suicides, alcohol abuse, family violence, aggression, depression, emotional blunting, lack of motivation and decreased interest in the outside world. The amount of diverse tasks that are expected of a police officer are multiple. Some of them are confronted with life threatening situations on a daily basis and are often exposed to death and its gruesome aspects. This study maintains that there appears to be a gap between the police officer in need and the psychological unit which is supposed to look after his mental well being. It seems as if the support rendered is predetermined by those in the helping professions and police management, without taking the unique needs and expectations of police officers into account. This study then focuses on such experiences in an attempt to bridge this gap. The study makes use of the narrative research method within the framework of social constructionism. This research attempts to co-constuct the meaning attached to the working experiences of members of a flying squad unit. This unit was specifically selected on the basis of members' broad exposure to life threatening and traumatic situations. Informal interviews were conducted with six members of the flying squad and their narratives may be found in the following pages. Themes identified from their interviews include: feelings of isolation, work circumstances, perceived lack of support, relationships, views of life and encounters with death. The researcher hopes that these stories will be heard.