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Introduction: Medical First Responders (MFRs) in the emergency department SUMMA 112 are tasked with handling the initial management of Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI) and building response capabilities. Training plays a crucial role in preparing these responders for effective disaster management. Yet, evaluating the impact of such training poses challenges since true competency can only be proven amid a major event. As a substitute gauge for training effectiveness, self-efficacy has been suggested.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to employ a pre- and post-test assessment of changes in perceived self-efficacy among MFRs following an intervention focused on the initial management of MCI. It also aimed to evaluate a self-efficacy instrument for its validity and reliability in this type of training.

Method: In this study, we used a pretest (time 1 = T1) – post-test (time 2 = T2) design to evaluate how self-efficacy changed after a training intervention with 201 MFRs in initial MCI management. ANOVA within-subjects and between subjects analyses were used. Results: The findings reveal a noteworthy change in self-efficacy before and after training among the 201 participants. This suggests that the training intervention positively affected participants’ perceived capabilities to handle complex situations like MCI.

Conclusion: The results allow us to recommend a training program with theory components together with practical workshops and live, large-scale simulation exercises for the training of medical first responders in MCI, as it significantly increases their perception of the level of self-efficacy for developing competencies associated with disaster response.

Introduction: Police officers work in a variable environment under different circumstances and often involves stressful situations. This include working irregular hours, ongoing exposure to critical incidents, confrontations and violence. community police officers are mainly out in the society and have daily contact with the general public. critical incidents can also consist of being criticized and stigmatized as a police officer, both from the public but also lack of support from their own organization. There is evidence on negative impacts of stress on police officers. However, knowledge about the nature of police stress and its various types is insufficient. It is assumed that there are common stress factors which are universal among all police officers in different contexts but there is a lack of comparative studies to provide empirical evidence. The aim of this study is to compare different types of stress among police officers in Norway and Sweden and how the pattern of experiencing stress has changed over time in these countries.

Methods: The study population consisted of patrolling police officers from 20 local police districts or units in all seven regions in Sweden (n = 953) and patrolling police officers from four police districts in Norway (n = 678). A 42-item Police Stress Identification Questionnaire was used to measure the stress level.

Results: The findings show differences in types of stressful events as well as its severity among police officers in Sweden and Norway. The level of stress decreased over time among Swedish police officers whereas it showed no change or even an increase among the Norwegian participants.

Discussion: The results of this study are relevant for policy-makers, police authorities and lay police officers in each country to tailor their efforts to prevent stress among police officers.

In many educational programmes preparing students for professions where human interaction is central, the development of empathic ability is of importance. The aim of this study was to explore attitudes towards the importance of empathy in police work among police students. The intention was also to investigate if attitudes would change over time during education, and whether gender differences could be observed. A modified version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy was administered to 355 Swedish police students in a mixed method design, including both between- and within-groups comparisons. Attitudes toward the importance of empathy were measured before and after a practical internship. The result showed that the students in general found empathic ability important, but also that they did not change their attitudes over time .The results were conflicting when it came to gender differences. There was no significant result for the between-group sample, but female students reported significantly higher compared to male students in the between-within group. This research is valuable in the discussion on how “soft skills” such as empathic ability can be assessed and developed in students in preparation for professional practice, and can also be useful in educational evaluation and planning.

A need to develop effective crime prevention strategies has been recognised throughout history. Due to the financial constraints of criminal justice systems, there are major global efforts to ensure that the strategies employed are highly cost-effective, rational, and evidence-based. To aid such efforts, this study explores the impact of a collaborative, community-oriented crime prevention initiative in Colombia. Empirically, it is based on pre- and post-intervention views of police officers and citizens (assessed by questionnaires) in areas covered by the initiative and control areas, complemented with focus group interviews and crime statistics. The police officers appreciated the greater autonomy provided by the approach and associated changes in organisational culture. The citizens had substantial trust in the police, despite high perceptions of general disorder and personal fear of crime. The preliminary findings indicate that the approach has had some promising effects, but several aspects require more attention.

Need-satisfying experiences corresponding to students' psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence lead to increased academic engagement and well-being. A lack of education-specific basic needs instruments validated in Swedish may inhibit basic needs research in Swedish-speaking student populations. Thus, the present study aimed to adapt the Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (NSFS) to the context of education in Sweden and validate this new Swedish NSFS in a sample of Swedish university students (n = 417, 59.7% women, mean age = 23.3 (SD = 4.3) years). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate the dimensionality of NSFS ratings, followed by structural equation modelling of nomological networks of basic needs, academic engagement, life satisfaction, academic burnout, and perceived stress. The NSFS ratings were best described by a three-factor model with methods correction for reversed item bias. Results showed that each need uniquely contributed to perceived stress and academic burnout. Relatedness and competence, but not autonomy, were significant predictors of life satisfaction and academic engagement. The main study contribution was providing a Swedish NSFS to assess autonomy, relatedness, and competence in higher education. The results support the use of the Swedish NSFS as a three-dimensional measure of basic needs in Swedish-speaking student populations.

Collaboration is essential for successful emergency event management. Live exercises are one method to prepare for such emergencies. In this paper, we present and evaluate an exercise model for multi-agency collaboration between first responders that focuses on learning collaboration. The model design emphasises preparation, the learning climate, scenarios that support learning, and reflection. The model is underpinned by a practice perspective on learning and structured reflection. Data were collected from three collaboration exercises using questionnaires in conjunction with the exercise and interviews at a later time after the exercise. The analysis showed that the participants developed a knowledge of collaboration and improved their ability to collaborate in real emergency events. The main contribution of the paper is the validation of a small-scale exercise model that places learning of the subject matter in the foreground, which is shown to be a successful method for developing relevant knowledge. It is concluded that this live exercise model both complements the more commonly used large-scale collaboration exercise model and strengthens emergency preparedness.

Burnout was originally conceptualized based on experiences of new professionals. Role clarity, task mastery, and social acceptance are recognized as key resources enabling new professionals’ management of the challenges of the new profession. However, relations between these resources and stress, strain, and burnout have not yet been thoroughly investigated at professional entry. Increased understanding of these relations could have implications for strategies to prevent burnout. The aim of the study was to investigate within- and between-individual effects over the first months and relations to burnout at one-year post-entry. Data (n = 322) was collected weekly over the first 13 weeks and again 9 months later. Relationships were modelled using a multilevel regression model and correlation analysis. Results showed that on weeks when participants experienced higher role clarity, task mastery, and social acceptance, they reported significantly less stress, and that participants who experienced higher levels of the resources in general, reported significantly less strain. Levels of the resources at three months were related to symptoms of burnout at 12 months. The study findings provide support of the role of task mastery, role clarity, and social acceptance as resources buffering the impact of demands at professional entry on experiences of stress, strain, and burnout.

Purpose: Empathy has been widely theorized as an important ability in professions such as policing, in which to perform well individuals require multiple and interacting abilities, not least when resolving conflict situations. Even so, there are few studies investigating how subconstructs of empathy relate to other constructs such as general cognitive ability. The purpose of this paper is to establish, after evaluating psychometric properties, relationships among measures of empathy and cognitive ability in a sample of Swedish police students (n = 157).

Design/methodology/approach: Multiple latent variable models of how the different measures work to predict tasks that can be seen as proxies for the ability to understand another person’s situation and intentions are evaluated to determine the most robust relationship(s) within the data.

Findings: We find support for the psychometric properties reported in previous studies with the used instruments. We also find support for perspective-taking, a cognitive empathy subconstruct predicting the ability to recognize emotions, and also the affective part of empathy, predicting general cognitive ability. These findings are discussed at length in the paper.

Originality/value: This research adds more knowledge to the issue of how general cognitive ability relates to cognitive empathy and other subconstructs of empathy or Theory of Mind.

A crime victim's first contact with the police may strongly influence subsequent investigations and prosecutions, as well as the crime's impact on the victim. The outcomes of such contacts may depend strongly on the degree to which the victim exhibits the characteristics of an ideal victim. This study sought to find valid ways of evaluating the constructs of victim ideality and police empathy, and to clarify the relationship between the two considering background factors, and outcomes. With a cross-sectional design data were collected from approximately 300 crime victims from cities in Colombia using a questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SEM, MIMIC, and logistic regression models. Being an ideal victim was found to influence the empathy displayed by police (as perceived by the victims), which in turn influenced factors important to citizens exposed to crime. Several areas in need of development based on the principles of procedural justice are identified.

BACKGROUND: From an international perspective, recent years have seen an increase in the use of conducted energy weapons (CEWs), which are used to control potentially dangerous and uncooperative people. In 2019 the Norwegian National Police Directorate launched a two-year trial of CEWs in daily police work.

AIM: The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the National Police Directorate’s CEW trial and to explore the public’s perceptions of police use of CEWs.

METHODS: The evaluation was designed as a cohort study with a participant and a control group. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Measurements before, during, and towards the end of the trial activity were carried out. Two groups of police officers answered the survey: those who were part of the trial activities with CEWs and those who were not part of the trial activities. To deepen our understanding, we conducted in-depth interviews with police officers who had experience with CEWs. To examine legitimacy aspects from a citizen perspective, we conducted a survey with citizens on three occasions. We also conducted individual interviews with citizens and representatives of interest groups to deepen and complement the survey results.

RESULTS: The current study found that CEWs are mainly used against individuals who are mentally unstable and exhibit aggressive and dangerous behaviour. The findings showed that CEWs fill the gap between pepper spray or batons and firearms and complement other forcible means. The findings from the interviews showed that the officers could resolve the situations before the introduction of CEWs, but with CEWs they could do so with less intrusive force and a lower risk of injury. According to the interviews, the officers felt safer mostly because CEWs gave them the opportunity to intervene without discharging their firearms. The survey revealed no significant differences between the study and control groups or between different timepoints regarding threats to the police or injuries for the police or the counterpart, while the findings from the interviews showed that the police officers perceived a CEW-related decrease in the risk of injuries for both the police and their counterparts. Informants were unanimous that CEWs were effective, but that there were factors to be aware of when using CEWs, such as thick clothes and a moving target. More than 90% of CEW situations during the two-year trial involved male officers, and among subjects exposed to CEWs from the police, fewer than 10% were women. The citizen survey results indicate that citizens believe police officers can be trusted with decisions related to the use of force. The survey also showed that citizens who had received some information on CEWs were significantly more positive towards CEWs than those who had no information. Further, the group with information on CEWs also stated that they would feel more secure if police in their vicinity were equipped with CEWs. 

CONCLUSIONS: CEWs do not seem to affect the Norwegian police’s total use of force. However, CEWs can decrease the use of other forcible means, especially pepper spray. The findings indicate that CEWs can replace the use of firearms under certain circumstances, although they do not replace firearms as a means of force. CEWs do not seem to affect injuries among police officers and counterparts, although findings from the police interviews indicate a lower risk of major injuries and lethal force. The introduction of CEWs does not seem to have a substantial effect on public perceptions of the police and public confidence in the police. Members of the public trust that the police are well-trained and competent in making decisions regarding the use of CEWs.