Use of Group Process in Teaching Communication and Life Skills for Law Enforcement Personnel

Abstract

This article presents a training program in life-coping skills for law enforcement personnel using group procedures. Highlighted in the article is a follow-up evaluation of a 64-hour training program conducted five years ago in which 300 police officers were instructed in life skills. To examine the effectiveness of this program, 30 of the officers were randomly selected and retested. Their test scores on factual retention, self control, and dogmatism were compared with their earlier pretraining and post-training data. No significant changes were found, suggesting that the officers retained the factual information, level of dogmatism, and sense of internal control they learned in the program. In addition, their scores were compared with the scores of a control group of 30 officers who either did not receive the life-training skills or were hired after the training program. As expected, the scores of the officers who had undergone the training program demonstrated a significantly higher knowledge of life skills, a stronger sense of self-confidence, and a somewhat lower dogmatic attitude.