Sandra Ramey, PhD, Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, University of Iowa
The prevalence of public health problems such as heart disease and stress are high among law enforcement officers. Stress is a modifiable risk factor that contributes to chronic disease. Over a three-month time period, our stress resilience intervention will: 1) educate officers on techniques to manage emotional and physical responses to stress and 2) provide practice sessions that use a hand-held, non-invasive heart-rhythm monitor to facilitate acquiring the skills to self-regulate responses to stress techniques. A wait-list controlled design provides a scientific way to assess the intervention because the wait-listed group serves as control until it also receives the intervention. Measurements include psychological stress and biological variables including heart rate variability, lipid panels, C-reactive protein and serum glucose at baseline, 3 and 6 months. The proposed work is innovative because the focus is not on modifying the officers’ exposures to stressors but on modifying how they respond to stressful situations.
| Results & Dissemination |
Police offers experience high levels of stress and a high incidence of cardiovascular disease. Sandra Ramey, a nursing professor, was recently funded by the Healthier Workforce Center to address this important need. Results from an intervention she developed and tested indicated improvement in resilience to stress, positive changes in heart rate, and lower levels of post-traumatic stress disorder and vital exhaustion, which include feeling of excessive fatigue, increased irritability and feeling demoralized. Understanding the levels of stress officers report and how to modify their reaction to stress may likely reduce rates of cardiovascular disease in police officers and may help police departments retain their employees. Results from the project were disseminated at the Total Worker Health Symposium in Bethesda MD, the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in New Orleans, and to large audiences of police leaders at the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Alexandria, VA. Dr. Ramey provided testimony regarding ways to improve police officers’ health and wellness during President Obama’s Task Force [on 21st Century Policing] meeting in Washington on Monday, Feb. 23, 2013.
Ramey S, Perkhounkova Y, Moon M, Tseng H, Wilson A, Hein M, Hood K, & Franke W (2014). Physical activity in police beyond self-report. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 56(3):338-343.
Franke W & Ramey S (2013). Stress and cardiovascular disease in law enforcement. In Miller, MK & Bornstein, BH (Eds). Trauma, Stress and Wellbeing in the Legal System (1st Ed.) New York: Oxford University Press.