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Suicide Exposure in Law Enforcement Officers
Author(s) -
Cerel Julie,
Jones Blake,
Brown Melissa,
Weisenhorn David A.,
Patel Kyra
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/sltb.12516
Subject(s) - suicidal ideation , anxiety , law enforcement , depression (economics) , psychiatry , mental health , psychology , occupational safety and health , suicide prevention , clinical psychology , poison control , medicine , medical emergency , law , political science , pathology , economics , macroeconomics
Objective To examine occupational and personal suicide exposure among Law Enforcement Officers ( LEO s) and related mental health outcomes. Methods Law Enforcement Officers (N = 813) completed an online survey about their suicide exposure, whether scenes stayed with them, and current symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD , and suicidal ideation. Results Almost all participants (95%) had responded to at least one suicide scene with an average of 30.90 ( SD = 57.28) career suicide scenes and 2.17 in the last year ( SD = 4.11). One in five (22%) reported a scene that they cannot shake or have nightmares about, and 42.5% reported one scene that stayed with them. Almost three fourths (73.4%) knew someone personally who had died by suicide. There was a significant association between high levels of occupational exposure to suicide and behavioral health consequences including PTSD , persistent thoughts of a suicide scene, and the inability to shake a scene. The inability to shake a scene and having a scene stick with them was associated with increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD , and suicidal ideation. Conclusions LEO s experience a tremendous amount of exposure to suicide scenes and also have personal exposure. There is a need for training to mitigate the effect of these multiple traumas on their mental health.