Chronic stressors and burnout in Dutch police officers: Two studies into the complex role of coping self-efficacy.

Introduction: Burnout complaints are high for Dutch police officers. According to Hobfoll's Conservation of Resources theory, resources such as coping self-efficacy can play an important role in the burnout process. The aim of this study was to investigate the buffering effect of coping self-efficacy on burnout, as well as a possible depletion effect of burnout on coping self-efficacy. Methods: As such, this research consists of two studies namely, a two-wave study (N = 166) and three-wave study (N = 95) on Dutch police officers. They expand on previous research regarding coping resources and police burnout. Results: Both studies show that the chronic stressor, work scheduling, was positively associated with burnout. Also, coping self-efficacy weakened the effect of work scheduling (Study 1) and workload (Study 2) on burnout. Moreover, there was a direct negative relationship between burnout and coping self-efficacy. Discussion: The results indicate that burnout can lead to lower coping resources, initiating a potential cycle of resource loss and burnout. Further investigation into this depletion effect is required to provide police officers and organisations with tools to prevent burnout.

Team Coping: Cross-Level Influence of Team Member Coping Activities on Individual Burnout.

Coping with stress has been primarily investigated as an individual-level phenomenon. In work settings, however, an individual's exposure to demands is often shared with co-workers, and the process of dealing with these demands takes place in the interaction with them. Coping, therefore, may be conceptualized as a multilevel construct. This paper introduces the team coping concept and shows that including coping as a higher-level team property may help explain individual-level outcomes. Specifically, we investigated the effects of exposure to danger during deployment on burnout symptoms in military service members and examined to what extent this relationship was moderated by individual-level and team-level functional coping. We hypothesized that the relationship between individuals' exposure to danger and burnout is contingent on both. In line with our predictions, we found that service members who were highly exposed to danger, and did not engage in much functional coping, suffered most from burnout symptoms, but only when their teammates did not engage in much functional coping either. When their teammates did engage in much functional coping, the effect of exposure to danger on burnout was buffered. Hence, team members' coping efforts functioned as a resilience resource for these service members.

Perceived demands during modern military operations.

Using a cross-sectional design, this study explored operational demands during the International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan (2009-2010) across distinct military units. A total of 1,413 Dutch soldiers, nested within four types of units (i.e., combat, combat support, service support, and command support units) filled out a 23-item self-survey in which they were asked to evaluate the extent to which they experienced operational characteristics as demanding. Exploratory factor analysis identified six underlying dimensions of demands. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that distinct units are characterized by their own unique constellation of perceived demands, even after controlling for previous deployment experience. Most notable findings were found when comparing combat units to other types of units. These insights can be used to better prepare different types of military units for deployment, and support them in the specific demands they face during deployment.

NATO survey of mental health training in army recruits.

To-date, there has been no international review of mental health resilience training during Basic Training nor an assessment of what service members perceive as useful from their perspective. In response to this knowledge gap, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Human Factors & Medicine Research & Technology Task Group "Mental Health Training" initiated a survey and interview with seven to twenty recruits from nine nations to inform the development of such training (N = 121). All nations provided data from soldiers joining the military as volunteers, whereas two nations also provided data from conscripts. Results from the volunteer data showed relatively consistent ranking in terms of perceived demands, coping strategies, and preferences for resilience skill training across the nations. Analysis of data from conscripts identified a select number of differences compared to volunteers. Subjects also provided examples of coping with stress during Basic Training that can be used in future training; themes are presented here. Results are designed to show the kinds of demands facing new recruits and coping methods used to overcome these demands to develop relevant resilience training for NATO nations.