Methods for Real-Time Assessment of Operational Stress During Realistic Police Tactical Training

Fenici, Riccardo; Brisinda, Donatella; Sorbo, Anna Rita

doi:10.4324/9780203836170.ch14

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Under elevated levels of stress, the engagement of the first path, automatic physiological processing, happens within sub-cortical structures of the brain’s limbic system. The second path engages higher order cortical cognitive processing, generating conscious feelings, such as fear or other related emotions, in response to a threat (Fenici et al, 2011; LeDoux and Pine, 2016). The fight-or-flight response is implicit (i.e., below conscious awareness) and is the default human response to threat in order to maximize survival by immediately preparing the body to fight or flee without the need for higher-order cognitive processing (Thayer and Sternberg, 2006; LeDoux and Pine, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conversely, blood flow to other areas (e.g., digestive system), which are not required to respond to a threat, are inhibited. Thus, activation of this stress system leads to an increase in strength, resistance, and attention to improve chances for survival in the short-term (Tsigos and Chrousos, 2002; Fenici et al, 2011). However, chronic, or maladaptive autonomic activation can be detrimental to health over the long-term (McEwen, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stress-Activity Mapping: Physiological Responses During General Duty Police Encounters

et al. 2019

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Policing is a highly stressful and dangerous profession that involves a complex set of environmental, psychosocial, and health risks. The current study examined autonomic stress responses experienced by 64 police officers, during general duty calls for service (CFS) and interactions with the public. Advancing previous research, this study utilized GPS and detailed operational police records as objective evidence of specific activities throughout a CFS. These data were then used to map officers’ heart rate to both the phase of a call (e.g., dispatch, enroute) and incident factors (e.g., call priority, use-of-force). Furthermore, physical movement (i.e., location and inertia) was tracked and assisted in differentiating whether cardiovascular reactivity was due to physical or psychological stress. Officer characteristics, including years of service and training profiles, were examined to conduct a preliminary exploration of whether experience and relevant operational skills training impacted cardiovascular reactivity. Study results provide foundational evidence that CFS factors, specifically the phase of the call (i.e., arrival on scene, encountering a subject) and incident factors (i.e., call priority, weapons, arrest, use-of-force), influence physiological stress responses, which may be associated with short-term performance impairments and long-term health outcomes. Implications of research findings for operational policing, police training, and health research are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress-Activity Mapping: Physiological Responses During General Duty Police Encounters

et al. 2019

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“…The dynamic modulation of heart rate (HR) is controlled by the several voluntary and involuntary mechanisms, including respiration, thermoregulation and the interaction of the sympathetic (which has a response time in the order of a few seconds) and parasympathetic activities (which works much faster: response time 0.2-0.6 s) [1]. Those modulations result in HR fluctuation or variability in time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are ultra‐short heart rate variability features good surrogates of short‐term ones? State‐of‐the‐art review and recommendations

Pecchia

Castaldo

Montesinos

et al. 2018

Healthcare Technology Letters

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Ultra-short heart rate variability (HRV) analysis refers to the study of HRV features in excerpts of length <5 min. Ultra-short HRV is widely growing in many healthcare applications for monitoring individual's health and well-being status, especially in combination with wearable sensors, mobile phones, and smart-watches. Long-term (nominally 24 h) and short-term (nominally 5 min) HRV features have been widely investigated, physiologically justified and clear guidelines for analysing HRV in 5 min or 24 h are available. Conversely, the reliability of ultra-short HRV features remains unclear and many investigations have adopted ultra-short HRV analysis without questioning its validity. This is partially due to the lack of accepted algorithms guiding investigators to systematically assess ultra-short HRV reliability. This Letter critically reviewed the existing literature, aiming to identify the most suitable algorithms, and harmonise them to suggest a standard protocol that scholars may use as a reference in future studies. The results of the literature review were surprising, because, among the 29 reviewed papers, only one paper used a rigorous method, whereas the others employed methods that were partially or completely unreliable due to the incorrect use of statistical tests. This Letter provides recommendations on how to assess ultra-short HRV features reliably and proposes an inclusive algorithm that summarises the state-of-the-art knowledge in this area.

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“…Particularly, the continuous activation of the stress systems can lead to serious modifications on the neuro-autonomic and endocrinal balance, creating higher levels of psychological (i.e., depression, anxiety) and physiological problems (i.e., hypertension, coronary heart disease, gastrointestinal malfunctions, metabolic syndrome) (Fenici et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ambulatory Assessment of Psychophysiological Stress among Police Officers: a Proof-of-Concept Study

et al. 2017

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Occupational stress has been widely recognized as a global challenge and has received increased attention by the academic community. Ambulatory Assessment methodologies, combining psychophysiological measures of stress, offer a promising avenue for future prevention and/or rehabilitation stress research. Considering that policing is well known for being a particularly stressful occupation, Emergency Responders Officers (EROs) stress levels were investigated. Particularly, this study analyzed: (i) physiological stress data obtained during shifts and compared these data with baseline levels (days off), as well as (ii) with normative values for healthy populations; (iii) stress symptoms differences from beginning to end of shift; (iv) stress events and events intensity and (v) the acceptability and feasibility of this proof-ofconcept study in a highly stressful occupation. A Geo-location event system was used to help retrospective accounts of psychological stress, combined with electrocardiogram (ECG) data and mobile self-reports, that include stress symptoms, event types and event intensity. Results suggest that EROs experience high levels of stress (both onduty and off duty) when compared to healthy populations. Stress symptoms increase from the beginning to end of the shift. However, the mean events intensity was very low. It can be concluded that stress may not always be diagnosed when using merely

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Methods for Real-Time Assessment of Operational Stress During Realistic Police Tactical Training

Cited by 6 publications

References 1 publication

Stress-Activity Mapping: Physiological Responses During General Duty Police Encounters

Stress-Activity Mapping: Physiological Responses During General Duty Police Encounters

Are ultra‐short heart rate variability features good surrogates of short‐term ones? State‐of‐the‐art review and recommendations

Ambulatory Assessment of Psychophysiological Stress among Police Officers: a Proof-of-Concept Study

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