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ABSTRACT
PurposeThere is considerable evidence to illustrate police occupational culture can negatively influence service delivery and organizational reform. To counteract this, and to improve professionalism, the Police services of England & Wales will become a graduate profession from 2020, although little empirical evidence exists as to what impact this will have. This study examines the implications of a police degree course on its students.
Design/MethodologyInitially a survey was conducted with 383 University students studying for Criminal Justice related undergraduate degrees in a UK University. This indicated Police Foundation degree students (N=84), identified themselves as being different, and behaving differently, to other University students. To explore the reasons for this, four focus groups were conducted with this cohort, during their two-year degree programme.
FindingsThe study found that the Police Foundation Degree students quickly assimilated a police identity, which affected their attitudes and behavior. The process led to a strengthening of ties within their own student group, at the expense of wider student socialization.
Originality/ ValueThe study provides new findings in relation to undergraduate students who undertake a University based degree programme, tailored to a future police career. The results have implications for both police policy makers and those in Higher Education as it highlights the strength of police occupational culture and the implications for the design of future police related degree programmes.2
This article reports on a study involving a range of health professions students who participated in similar one-semester (short) or two-semester (long) interprofessional clinical education programmes that focused on clinical assessment of senior citizens living independently in the community. Students' attitudes towards teamwork skills and perceptions of their own teamwork skills both before and after the programmes were assessed using two validated scales. Osteopathic medical student participants reported no significant changes in attitudes towards interprofessional healthcare teamwork skills or their perceptions of their own interprofessional teamwork skills after either the one- or two-semester programmes. For athletic training, speech-language pathology, exercise sciences, public health, and nursing students, though, attitudes towards teamwork skills significantly improved (p < .05) after the one-semester programme; and perceptions of their own team skills significantly improved (p < .05) after both the one- and two-semester programmes. Overall, this study provides some support for interprofessional teamwork attitude change, but with a significant difference between medical as compared to nursing, allied health, and public health students.
Students who lack protective qualities, especially those who do not feel committed to their community, are more likely to be involved in substance abuse and risky behaviors. School-community partnerships may provide the targeted health protective factors that encourage more community involvement and more positive health behaviors in these youth.
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