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Title

Preliminary Psychometric Properties of the Moral Injury Symptom Scale Among Police Officers

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

5-2020

Disciplines

Psychology

Abstract

Due to the nature of their job, police officers experience high levels of exposure to potentially traumatic events. Life threatening experiences are not the only traumatic events that are experienced by police officers. In some cases, police officers are required to use force that may result in serious injury or death of another person. Experiencing such events can adversely affect police officers' well-being and mental health status, and lead to development of moral injury (MI). MI has been initially developed from clinical work with soldiers and veterans; for this reason, most of the studies on this syndrome are focused on veteran population, and few studies have investigated MI among police officers. According to Papazoghlou and Chopko (2017), morally injurious events are omnipresent in police work, and experiencing this kind of trauma can preclude officers' ability to perform their duties, make the right decisions, or regulate their emotions efficiently. This study aimed to report the preliminary results of the psychometric properties of the adapted version of the Moral Injury Symptom Scale - Military Version among police officers. To reach this goal, we added, dropped, and changed the wording of items to be a better representation of officers' experiences. The sample consisted of 150 police officers. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Cronbach's alpha were used to analyze the data. The results of PCA revealed seven factors. The results of Cronbach's alpha indicated scale's high internal consistency. In general, preliminary results supported the factor structure and reliability of the adapted version of MISS among police officers.

First Advisor

Randy Quevillon

Research Area

Psychology

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