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Exploring occupational stress and the perceptions of a canine-assisted intervention in law-enforcement personnel : a case study Green, Freya Loren Louise

Abstract

Despite the increasing popularity of canine-assisted interventions (CAIs) across a variety of contexts, and the demonstrated efficacy CAIs have on stress reduction, there is a paucity of literature that has examined the effects of such programs within the context of law-enforcement. Policing is known to be an environment in which personnel experience elevates occupational stress (Ménard & Arter, 2013; Ranta & Sud, 2008). As stress can be influential in the overall well-being of members and their ability to serve the public, it is important to establish and integrate effective stress-reduction strategies within detachment settings. To address these needs, this qualitative study explored the experiences of stress within members, and a CAI integrated within an urban RCMP 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. 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 of a weekly CAI within their detachment. Results indicate that organizational stressors were identified more often than operational stressors; that members most commonly report stress making them more irritable and affecting their sleep; and that the most commonly reported coping mechanism and resource are exercise and medical services, respectively. In discussing the CAI, participants were overwhelmingly positive in their experiences of the program, and demonstrated support for having CAIs within the detachment setting. 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. Participants also identified the role of the dogs within the program, which included their role as a social entity. The findings from the current study contribute to better understanding of the lived experiences of stress within RCMP members, and of CAIs within an applied setting.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International