Suicide and Self-Injury
Julianne E. Cary, B.A., M.A.
Graduate Student
Texas Tech University
LUBBOCK, Texas
Sarah Sparks, M.S.
Doctoral Student
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas
Danielle Boekankamp, B.S.
Researcher
Texas Tech University
lubbock, Texas
Chloe White, B.A.
Undergraduate student
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas
Kimberlee Jones, B.A.
Corporal
Lubbock Police Department
lubbock, Texas
Sean M. Mitchell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas
Megan A. Thoen, Ph.D.
Director, Psychology Clinic
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas
Stigma towards mental illness is one of the most prominent barriers to seeking treatment (Hansson et al., 2017). As stigma towards mental illness can develop through an individual’s experiences with those diagnosed with a mental illness (Boyd et al., 2009), police officers represent a unique population that has potential for development of stigma due to their interactions with individuals with mental illness during crisis encounters (Soomro & Yanos, 2018). Because research has not directly examined how these experiences may be linked to police officers’ attitudes towards individuals with mental illness, the current study investigated this relation.
We hypothesized there would be higher positive attitudes towards people with mental illness among officers endorsing having a family member (40.3% yes) or friend (46.8% yes) diagnosed with a mental illness, losing someone to suicide (59.7% yes), being personally diagnosed with a mental illness (9.1% yes), or seeking help from a mental health professional (28.6% yes), compared to those who did not endorse these experiences. We also hypothesized there would be lower positive attitudes towards people with mental illness among officers who had been physically attacked by someone with a mental illness (46.8% yes), compared to those who did not. For these preliminary results, participants (N = 77; 94.8% men, 5.2% women) were police officers in the southwest U.S. prior to completing a crisis intervention training course. Most participants identified as White (90.9%) and Hispanic (26%). Participants completed self-report measures of demographic information and the Community Attitudes Towards Mental Illness Questionnaire (CAMI), a measure of personal attitudes towards mental illness, with higher scores indicating a more positive attitude; the social restrictiveness subscale of the CAMI was used.
Our hypotheses were partially supported. Notably, we performed 6 independent samples t-tests, with two analyses yielding significant results. Social restrictiveness did significantly differ between officers personally diagnosed with a mental illness or not, t(75) = -2.62, p = .011, Cohen’s d = -1.04, and between officers who have a friend with a mental illness or not, t(75) = -2.07, p = .041, Cohen’s d = -0.47; those endorsing these experiences reported higher positive attitudes. Social restrictiveness did not significantly differ between officers who have a family member with a mental illness or not, t(75) = -1.32, p = .193, Cohen’s d = ,-0.31, between officers who sought help from a mental health professional or not, t(75) = -1.63, p = .108, Cohen’s d = -0.41, between officers who personally lost someone to suicide or not, t(75) = -0.92, p = .362, Cohen’s d = -0.21, or between groups who were physically harmed by someone with a mental illness or not, t(75) =0.30, p = .766, Cohen’s d = .07. Our preliminary findings are somewhat consistent with previous findings suggesting that attitudes towards mental illness are associated with personal closeness to mental illness (Boyd et al., 2008). A limitation of our current dataset is the small sample size, at the time of this submission; however, we will have additional participants (~30) by the time of presentation.