Cumulative exposure to citizens’ trauma and secondary traumatic stress among police officers: the role of specialization in domestic violence prevention

Abstract

ABSTRACT Police officers are routinely exposed to a variety of critical incidents and as a result are a population vulnerable to various mental health issues. However, little is known about the impacts of exposure to citizens’ trauma on officers’ mental health and whether officers specializing in domestic violence prevention can better cope with the stress resulting from citizens’ trauma. This study aims to address these research gaps by analyzing the data collected from a sample of 734 Taiwanese police officers through an online survey. Findings indicate that cumulative exposure to citizens’ trauma was positively associated with secondary traumatic stress. Though officers specializing in domestic violence prevention experienced a higher level of secondary traumatic stress than their non-specialist counterparts, their specialization did help them better manage secondary traumatic stress. This study represents the first known attempt to examine the impacts of exposure to citizens’ trauma on police officers’ mental health in an Asian setting; it is also groundbreaking in that it tested whether specialization in domestic violence prevention can serve as a protective factor against exposure to citizens’ trauma.