Social Ecology of Police Resilience

Abstract

Research shows that police work is one of the most stressful professions in the world, and police officers typically suffer a variety of physiological, psychological, and behavioral effects and symptoms. Thus, constant exposure to stressful situations requires resilient police officers. Legislation, social support, organizational factors, and individual resources all play different roles in maintaining resilience among police officers. The aim of this chapter is to contribute to a multisystemic ecological theory of police resilience. By applying this analytical approach, the authors illustrate how systems on different levels interact with each other reciprocally. They conclude that resilience is necessary for officers to have the capacity to act authoritatively in uncertain situations. The use of multisystemic social-ecological theory provides a deeper understanding of the processes that contribute to positive development in professionally stressful contexts.

Tough lessons: Pathways toward correctional officer resilience and growth.

“…Officer resilience is rooted in their capacity to “draw upon their own individual, collective, and institutional resources and competencies to cope with, adapt to and develop from the demands, challenges, and changes encountered during and after a critical incident, mass emergency, or disaster” (Paton et al, 2008, p. 96). Ghazinour and Rostami (2021) build off this definition, suggesting that,resilience constitutes both psychological and physiological flexibility in the face of adversity (i.e., a conscious awareness of the best course of action and the best moment to take action), self-awareness, and control over one’s physiological stress responses to threat and recovery from exposure beyond one’s own control (p. 184).…”

“…The logical extension of a multisystemic approach to resilience is that any resilience programs should seek to enhance the individual, familial, organizational, and societal levels (Ghazinour & Rostami, 2021). In the results, we explore how participant narratives provide evidence of both psychological distress, resilience, and posttraumatic growth.…”

“The profession is just different”: Why noncareer and career firefighters have different experiences with critical incidents, and the role of informal peer support in processing them.

“…The focus of interventions needs to lie on specific stressors for noncareer and career firefighters—like mindset, local bond, experience—and on strengthening their social ecology rather than on universal stress reduction interventions and comprehensive measures. To further develop the resilience of firefighters, social–ecological theory should be practiced in resilience programs as well as in empowering firefighters and their station and organization, as previously argued by Ghazinour and Rostami (2021) for increasing the resilience of police officers. Good mental health serves not only firefighters’ interests but also organizational and social interests.…”

Work-related Stress in Relation to Gender-based and Sexual Harassment Among a Group of Swedish Police Officers

“…In addition, new policies, regulations and organisational reforms based on political desires can impose extra pressure on police organisation and officers, especially when these changes clash with the police officers' personal ideology and political desires (Kara et al, 2015;Stogner et al, 2020). According to the multisystem approach in police work, introduced by Ghazinour and Rostami (2021), police work should be seen as a complex system in which the parts may not always complement each other (e.g. policy versus police organisation; the police organisation versus police officer) and this can be a source of stress for the police organisation and police officers.…”