The International Performance, Resilience and Efficiency Program Protocol for the Application of HRV Biofeedback in Applied Law Enforcement Settings.

Law enforcement officers are routinely exposed to high-threat encounters that elicit physiological stress responses that impact health, performance, and safety. Therefore, self-regulation using evidence-based approaches is a priority in police research and practice. This paper describes a five-module heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) protocol that is part of a larger resilience program (the International Performance Resilience and Efficiency Program - iPREP) established in 2014.

Physiological Responses to Organizational Stressors Among Police Managers.

Police officers demonstrate increased risk of physical and mental health conditions due to repeated and prolonged exposure to stressful occupational conditions. Occupational stress is broken into two types: operational stress, related to the content of field duties (e.g.

A Biological Approach to Building Resilience and Wellness Capacity Among Police Exposed to Posttraumatic Stress Injuries: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Law enforcement officers are routinely exposed to hazardous, disturbing events that can impose severe stress and long-term psychological trauma. As a result, police and other public safety personnel (PSP) are at increased risk of developing posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSIs) and disruptions to the autonomic nervous system (ANS). ANS functioning can be objectively and noninvasively measured by heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA).

Building a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive drivers of performance under pressure: An international multi-panel Delphi study.

Introduction: The ability to perform optimally under pressure is critical across many occupations, including the military, first responders, and competitive sport. Despite recognition that such performance depends on a range of cognitive factors, how common these factors are across performance domains remains unclear. The current study sought to integrate existing knowledge in the performance field in the form of a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive mechanisms that underlie performance under pressure.

Identity affirmation is associated with adaptive cardiovascular flexibility in response to stress among sexual and gender minority people of color.

Background: Research with sexual and gender minority (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, asexual, trans, non-binary) people of Color (SGM-PoC) has largely focused on risk and negative health outcomes.

Associations between police lethal force errors, measures of diurnal and reactive cortisol, and mental health.

Errors in lethal force by police are met with significant demand for explanations as to why they occur, stimulating a growing body of multidisciplinary research. Acutely stressful occupational conditions result in decrements to police performance, including lethal force decision-making. Further, although it is known that repeated and prolonged exposure to potentially traumatic work-related encounters is linked to higher rates of mental health symptoms, it is unclear if psychological symptoms are related to police performance, and lethal force errors specifically.

A Reasonable Officer: Examining the Relationships Among Stress, Training, and Performance in a Highly Realistic Lethal Force Scenario.

Under conditions of physiological stress, officers are sometimes required to make split-second life-or-death decisions, where deficits in performance can have tragic outcomes, including serious injury or death and strained police-community relations. The current study assessed the performance of 122 active-duty police officers during a realistic lethal force scenario to examine whether performance was affected by the officer's level of operational skills training, years of police service, and stress reactivity. Results demonstrated that the scenario produced elevated heart rates (i.

Testing the Efficacy of a 1-Day Police Decision-Making and Autonomic Modulation Intervention: A Quasi-Random Pragmatic Controlled Trial.

Contemporary discourse has identified several urgent priorities concerning police training and education, including: (a) empirically testing and validating the effectiveness of current programming in reducing lethal force decision-making errors; (b) integrating evidence-based content and pedagogical approaches into police curriculum; and (c) understanding the breadth and length of programming necessary to ensure learning and transfer of skills to operational field settings. Widespread calls to identify effective and actionable training programs have been met with numerous research studies, systematic reviews, and policy recommendations that reveal the need to train officers' internal physiological awareness, which is foundational in shaping cognitive decision-making, emotion regulation, and behavior under stressful conditions. Several investigations have shown improvements to both lethal force errors and physiological recovery following a multi-day autonomic modulation (AM) intervention.

Considering Objective and Subjective Measures for Police Use of Force Evaluation.

In spite of significant interest in the application of police use of force (UOF) from organisations, researchers, and the general public, there remains no industry standard for how police UOF is trained, and by extension, evaluated. While certain UOF behaviours can be objectively measured (e.g.

Critical Review of Visual Models for Police Use of Force Decision-Making.

Recent calls for widespread police reform include re-examination of existing training and practice surrounding the use of force (UOF, e.g., verbal and non-verbal communication, physical tactics, firearms).

Development and initial validation of the Queer People of Color Identity Affirmation Scale.

Despite growing literature on sexual minority (SM; e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, asexual) people of Color (PoC), there is a dearth of research examining positive aspects of SM-PoC identity.

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

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.

The Unease Modulation Model: An Experiential Model of Stress With Implications for Health, Stress Management, and Public Policy.

Stress has a pervasive, global, and negative influence on individual health. Stress also has negative effects on families, organizations, and communities. Current models of stress are either too general or too detailed to guide effective interventions across the spectrum of medical and social conditions that are stress-related.

Diurnal Cortisol Variation According to High-Risk Occupational Specialty Within Police: Comparisons Between Frontline, Tactical Officers, and the General Population.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare diurnal salivary cortisol among high-risk occupational police specialties and the general population (n = 18,698).

Methods: Tactical and frontline officers provided salivary cortisol samples for 2 days (four times: wake, 30 minutes, 11 hours, and 17 hours post-awakening) and were compared with a general population sample of group field studies utilizing similar methodology. Samples were analyzed for free cortisol concentrations (nmol/L) using chemiluminescence immunoassay.

Reducing Lethal Force Errors by Modulating Police Physiology.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to test an intervention modifying officer physiology to reduce lethal force errors and improve health.

Methods: A longitudinal, within-subjects intervention study was conducted with urban front-line police officers (n = 57). The physiological intervention applied an empirically validated method of enhancing parasympathetic engagement (ie, heart rate variability biofeedback) during stressful training that required lethal force decision-making.

Diurnal and Reactivity Measures of Cortisol in Response to Intensive Resilience and Tactical Training Among Special Forces Police.

Special Forces Police are called to the most dangerous situations that require skills and equipment beyond the training available to a patrol officer. We recruited a platoon of special forces (n = 18) and examined their basal and reactivity levels of cortisol in relation to occupational duties. Moreover, we measured the impact of a multiday program of intensive resilience and tactical training in improving cortisol responses to stressful situations.

Comparing the Rates of Early Childhood Victimization across Sexual Orientations: Heterosexual, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Mostly Heterosexual.

Few studies have examined the rates of childhood victimization among individuals who identify as "mostly heterosexual" (MH) in comparison to other sexual orientation groups. For the present study, we utilized a more comprehensive assessment of adverse childhood experiences to extend prior literature by examining if MH individuals' experience of victimization more closely mirrors that of sexual minority individuals or heterosexuals. Heterosexual (n = 422) and LGB (n = 561) and MH (n = 120) participants were recruited online.

Applying Resilience Promotion Training Among Special Forces Police Officers.

Police Special Forces (a.k.a.

Multiple early victimization experiences as a pathway to explain physical health disparities among sexual minority and heterosexual individuals.

Prior research shows that health disparities exist between sexual minority and heterosexual individuals. We extend the literature by testing if the higher prevalence of childhood victimization experienced by sexual minority individuals accounts for lifetime health disparities. Heterosexual (n = 422) and sexual minority (n = 681) participants were recruited on-line in North America.

Thursday's child: the role of adverse childhood experiences in explaining mental health disparities among lesbian, gay, and bisexual U.S. adults.

This study examined how adverse childhood experiences (ACE) may explain disparities in poor mental health between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB), and heterosexual adults. Data are from three US states' 2010 behavioral risk factor surveillance system surveys (n = 20,060) that included sexual orientation, ACE inventory, and mental distress. LGB status was significantly associated with mental distress (OR = 1.

Lifetime victimization and physical health outcomes among lesbian and heterosexual women.

Background: Lifetime victimization experiences, including child sexual abuse (CSA), child physical abuse (CPA), adult sexual assault (ASA), and adult physical assault (APA), are associated with health problems.

Purpose: To examine relationships between cumulative victimization and physical health among heterosexual and lesbian women and determine whether these relationships differ by sexual identity.

Methods: Large samples of heterosexual (n = 482) and lesbian women (n = 394) were interviewed.

The association between bullying and physical health among gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals.

Background: Research suggests that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) populations experience higher prevalence of school bullying than heterosexuals.

Objectives: We examined if (a) verbal versus physical bullying were differentially associated with physical health among sexual minorities and (b) if sexual identity (i.e.

Psychological and physiological responses following repeated peer death.

Objective: Undergraduates at a university in the United States were exposed - directly and indirectly - to 14 peer deaths during one academic year. We examined how individual and social factors were associated with psychological (e.g.