Addictions and the criminal justice system, what happens on the other side? Post-traumatic stress symptoms and cortisol measures in a police cohort

Details

• Personal Author:
  Andrew, Michael E. ; Austin-Ketch TL ; Bruchfield CM ; Fekedulegn D ; Hartley TA ; Violanti J
• Description:
  The Buffalo Cardio-metabolic Occupational Police Stress study, an occupational cohort study of police officers, was conducted to evaluate physiologic and stress measures in a high-risk occupation where occupational exposure to difficult criminal situations can lead to physiologic and psychological health consequences among those who enforce the law. The chronic exposure to human tragedy may place police officers at special risk for mental health disorders and the potential for misuse of alcohol or drugs. While exact etiologies of post-traumatic stress were not determined by this study, overall post-traumatic stress (PTS) prevalence rates among the police officers was 35%, with 10% of individuals demonstrating severe PTS symptomatology. Waking cortisol measures tended to be higher among officers with more PTS symptomatology, with some gender related differences noted. Given the increase in incarcerations for addictions related offenses over the past 20 years and the chronic exposure to human suffering and tragedy, early recognition of PTS symptoms is essential in making the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress in high-risk occupational cohorts. Providing early entry into treatment and subsequently attempting to eliminate or minimize long-term consequences of post-traumatic stress can have a significant impact on the prevention of long term sequelae of chronic stress, such as the use or misuse of drugs or alcohol. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Law Enforcement Men Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological Women
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Post-traumatic Stress Cortisol Criminal Justice Humans Law-enforcement-workers Mental-health Mental-stress Occupation Cohort Psychological-effects Psychological-factors Psychological-reactions Psychological-responses Psychological-stress Stress Substance-abuse

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• ISSN:
  1088-4602
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  22-29
• Volume:
  23
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040523
• Citation:
  J Addict Nurs 2012 Feb; 23(1):22-29
• Contact Point Address:
  Tammy L. Austin-Ketch, FNP Program Coordinator & Clinical Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 3435 Main Street, 312 Wende Hall, Buffalo, NY 14214
• Email:
  tlak@buffalo.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services ; Public Safety
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Addictions Nursing
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1604fb986ff4f394515f3b686cde90b9c02fde7f8cf1c18179698d54dc112bb3a9d607cb7ca93c177c6bf8c0b4d752469a6a09172530384a5538dfe27409f3ec
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193343/cdc_193343_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 207.12 KB ]