Publications

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Cadets complete the Cadet training program (CTP) which provides the necessary skills and training for policing. Little has been known about the impact of the CTP on the personalities of Cadets. The current study analyzed personality factors and facets among Cadets before and after the CTP. The current study also compared Cadet’s personalities following the CTP to the general population. The results indicated small differences among Cadets in some personality factors and facets from starting to completing the CTP. Cadets completing the CTP maintained higher Honesty-Humility, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, as well as lower Emotionality and Openness to Experience, than the general population. The different personality factors and facets have been evidenced as ideal for contemporary policing and associated with reduced risk for mental health disorders. The current results provide further insights about the potential impact the CTP has on key areas of Cadets’ personalities throughout the training process.

RCMP are frequently exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs) while on duty, but it is less clear if RCMP cadets are exposed to PPTEs during the 26-week Cadet Training Program (CTP). Determining when career-related PPTE exposures begin to accumulate can help to inform additional opportunities to increase the safety and well-being of cadets during the CTP and while serving. The current study provides information on the types of PPTEs experienced by cadets during training and examines for associations with mental health disorder symptoms. Participants were RCMP cadets from the larger RCMP Longitudinal PTSD study who self-reported PPTEs and mental health symptoms during the CTP. Most participants reported no PPTE exposures (n = 374, 83.3%) during the CTP. Cadets who did report PPTE exposures during the CTP, most frequently reported exposure to serious transportation accidents, physical assault, and sudden accidental death. The total number of PPTE types reported during the CTP was associated with increased risk for any mental health disorders. The current results indicate that career-related PPTE exposures can start to accumulate as early as training and may be associated with mental health disorder symptoms. Early evidence-based supports, strategies and interventions are necessary to support the mental health and safety of cadets during training and onwards throughout their careers.

Public safety personnel (PSP) are frequently exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs) during their work, but there is less understanding regarding adverse experiences that PSP may have faced before entering the profession. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are acknowledged to contribute to negative, long-lasting outcomes, and include child maltreatment, household challenges, and peer victimization. ACEs may hinder PSP resilience processes for coping with and overcoming PPTEs, limiting their ability to function and adapt to their work requirements. The current study was designed to understand how specific ACEs, including child maltreatment, household challenges, peer victimization, and their combination, may impact resilience among Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Cadets starting their training to become RCMP members. The results indicate that child maltreatment, particularly physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, exposure to intimate partner violence, and experiences of peer victimization, are statistically significantly associated with decreased resilience among Cadets, underscoring the critical importance of mitigating adverse impacts of ACEs on resilience processes among Cadets before or during the Cadet training program. The emotional resilience skills training provided during Cadet training is designed to support more constructive engagement with emotions, which is expected to be helpful.

Current research suggests that Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Cadet mental health when starting the Cadet training program (CTP) appears comparable to, or better than, the general public. At pre-deployment (i.e., upon completion of the CTP and immediately before active-duty deployment), the same Cadets evidenced improved mental health relative to their pre-training assessments, and better mental health than serving RCMP, but the mechanisms associated with the mental health improvements are still being evaluated. The self-monitoring tools provided to RCMP Study participants during the CTP were expected to directly and indirectly support participant mental health. Cadets who completed more monthly self-report mental health symptom surveys evidenced greater decreases from pre-training to pre-deployment in their self-reported mental health disorder symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and major depressive disorder, but not alcohol use disorder or panic disorder. Scheduled monthly self-monitoring offers a readily accessible, seemingly transdiagnostic, evidence-based tool for helping to improve the mental health of RCMP Cadets, which could be extended to improvements in the mental health of RCMP members and other PSP.

The cardiac cycle timing intervals and measurements of heart function can provide key insights to an individual’s stress levels. Some of these parameters are widely available in many different groups, including the general public, university athletes, and those with heart diseases. However, there is still limited data available to describe the cardiac cycle of Cadet recruits joining policing. Considering that members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have an increased risk for developing various posttraumatic stress injuries, monitoring their heart function can be vital to identify worrisome changes which can lead to a future medical complication. The current study was designed to characterize the cardiac cycle metrics of the RCMP Cadets beginning their Cadet training program (CTP) to provide values to be used for comparison. We found that RCMP Cadets beginning their training program have similar differences between males and females as seen in the healthy general population. As such, male and female RCMP Cadets do not present with a heightened risk for a future medical complication relative to healthy members of the general public.

Despite the higher prevalence of mental health disorders among serving Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) relative to the general population, RCMP Cadets begin training with lower putative risk and greater perceived resilience than young adults in the general population. The current study was designed to assess the effectiveness of the Cadet training program—the paramilitary training RCMP recruits complete to become serving RCMP—in strengthening RCMP Cadets’ mental health by examining putative risk and resilience factors among post-training/pre-deployment Cadets. Participants had significantly lower scores on all putative risk variables with the exception of state anger, and significantly higher scores on perceived resilience, at post-training/pre-deployment compared to pre-training. Participants also had significantly lower scores on all putative risk variables, and significantly higher scores on perceived resilience, compared to scores from young adult control samples. These uncontrolled pilot findings suggest the Cadet training program may be beneficial for RCMP Cadets’ mental health and provide further evidence that the nature of policing, rather than individual differences in risk and resilience, likely explain serving RCMP’s relatively higher prevalence of mental health disorders.

The high number of serving Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) members with mental health disorders have often been incorrectly attributed to inadequate mental health screening of Cadets, or the potentially harmful nature of police training programs. In contrast, current research suggests that serving RCMP members screen positive for mental health disorders as a result of service-related mental health injuries from exposures to potentially psychologically traumatic events. The current study provides estimates of RCMP Cadet mental health at pre-deployment. At pre-deployment, the proportion of Cadets who screened positive for one or more current mental disorders based on self-reported symptoms (7.3%) or the clinical interview (4.1%) was lower than the diagnostic prevalence for the general population (10.1%), with no statistically significant sex or gender differences. Cadets evidenced improved mental health relative to their pre-training assessments, and better mental health than other RCMP members. The mental health disorder symptom improvements directly contrast long-standing notions that mental disorders among serving public safety personnel or military are caused by inherent weaknesses or pre-existing mental health injuries among people who should have been pre-emptively excluded from service. The results further contrast recent suppositions that police training is harmful to Cadets.

The current study was designed to examine the relationship between voluntary participation in daily mental health monitoring among RCMP Cadets in the Cadet training program (CTP) and screening positive for one or more mental health disorders based on self-reported symptoms. Participants were encouraged to complete at least one brief, daily self-report survey per day about their physical and mental wellbeing during their training at the CTP. Researchers analyzed participation frequency by using the 90-9-1 rule, which classifies user participation into three categories: Lurkers (i.e., Limited Contributors; the 90% of actors who do not, or rarely actively participate), Contributors (the 9% who seldom contribute), and Superusers (the 1% who contribute substantially. The current results suggest persons with mental health challenges may be less likely to engage in some forms of proactive mental health training. The current results also provide useful information about participation, adherence, and engagement that can be used to inform evidence-based paradigm shifts in health-related data collection in occupational populations.

Nearly half of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers (43.4%) report experiencing chronic pain; most (91%) RCMP officers who report chronic pain indicate that the pain began after they started serving. The current study was designed to provide estimates of chronic pain prevalence among Cadets and assess sociodemographic differences. Establishing baseline chronic pain estimates among Cadets at the start of the Cadet training program can help determine whether occupational risk factors contribute to the high rates of chronic pain reported by RCMP officers. The current study results indicate that chronic pain prevalence reported by Cadets was lower than published results for RCMP, suggesting that occupational risk factors are probable explanations for frequent reports of chronic pain among RCMP. Older Cadets were more likely to report experiencing chronic pain than younger Cadets, supporting age as another contributing factor for chronic pain. The high prevalence of chronic pain among RCMP may be caused by, or impacted by, several factors, including operational duties, duty equipment, duty vehicles, levels of physical activity, and higher prevalence of mental health disorder symptoms, rather than being singularly associated with routine aging. Further research could inform evidence-based strategies for reducing chronic pain among RCMP, as well as informing proactive mental health supports that could support recruitment and retention and mitigate risks for mental and physical health conditions.

Research efforts to understand risk and resilience profiles for developing posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSI) have included work focused on identifying associations between mental health disorders and specific personality traits. The current study was designed to examine associations between personality and mental health among Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Cadets. Little is known about the associations between mental health disorders and personality among RCMP Cadets starting the Cadet training program (CPT) and how personality traits may be meaningfully and differentially associated with mental health challenges. The results indicated that higher levels of Agreeableness, Extraversion, and to some extent Openness to Experience, were each associated with decreased odds of screening positive for mental disorders, suggesting relationships with resilience. In contrast, high Emotionality was associated with increased odds of screening positive for mental disorders and may help inform resources and supports to reduce mental health risks among Cadets and serving RCMP. Overall, RCMP Cadets already appear to be starting the CTP with personality profiles indicative of mental health resilience. The current results can be used to inform efforts to mitigate PTSI and maintain and bolster such traits to further facilitate mental health resilience among RCMP Cadets, serving RCMP and other PSP.