![]() ![]() Participants also identified the role of the dogs within the program, which included their role as a social being. Discussion of the impact of the sessions demonstrated that participants found that the program served as a break from work, relieved their stress, improved their mood, and helped them to change perspectives. In discussing the CAI, participants were overwhelmingly positive in their experiences of the program, and demonstrated support for having CAIs within the detachment setting. Results indicated that organizational stressors were identified more often than operational stressors that members most commonly reported that stress rendered them more irritable and impacted their sleep, and that the most commonly reported coping mechanism and resource are exercise and medical services, respectively. The interview focused on topics including members’ experiences of stress within the workplace, their perceptions of the effects of stress, resources and sources of support, and their experiences participating in a weekly CAI within their detachment. Eight RCMP members (75% female, Mage = 49.21, SD = 6.12) from an urban RCMP detachment situated in the downtown core of a small city were interviewed. This qualitative study explored Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) members’ experiences of stress within a detachment and their perceptions of a CAI integrated within their workplace to support their well-being. ![]() As stress can compromise the overall well-being of law-enforcement personnel and their ability to serve the public, it is important to understand how CAIs involving therapy dog visitation are experienced by the very individuals for whom they are intended to help. Policing is known to be an environment in which personnel experience elevated occupational stress. Moreover, the findings of the current research and the framework of program evaluation employed in this study are suitable resources to improve the development, implementation, and efficacy of programs to address mental health issues and behavioral problems in the LEO profession.ĭespite the increasing popularity of canine-assisted interventions (CAIs) across a variety of contexts, and the demonstrated efficacy they have on stress reduction, there is a paucity of research exploring the implementation of such programs within the context of law enforcement. Whereas the findings of this study are consistent with previous research on the impact of mental health stigmas and barriers to LEO program access, the research provided unique and rich, first-hand insights about the challenges program managers face in implementing and evaluating LEO mental health programs. Through a qualitative approach via Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the research addressed these aims via semi-structured interviews with five LEO program managers. A further aim of the research was to investigate internal impediments (e.g., LEO culture and leadership attitudes) that affect the necessary openness and collaboration needed to develop accessible and effective programs. With minimal research on mental health program efficacy in the law enforcement service, the aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of experienced mental health program managers on the efficacy of mental health programs designed to address the stress and mental health issues faced by Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs). ![]()
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