Evaluating a Crisis Intervention Training Program Among Police Officers: Assessing Changes in Suicide Stigma, Mental Health Attitudes, and Suicide Risk Management

First responders, including police officers, are among the first to arrive at the scene of a suicide attempt or suicide death. In fact, 95% of uniformed law enforcement officers (ULEOs) endorsed responding to at least one call regarding a suicide or mental health crisis during their career. Intervening properly during a suicide attempt or mental health crisis is key to saving the lives of people with mental illness (PMI) during a crisis situation. Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) programs for ULEOs are a proposed solution to mitigate the effects of the stigma of mental illness, educate police officers on effective ways to interact with individuals (i.e., subjects) during crisis situations, and bolster their confidence in responding to such instances). The current study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a mandatory (by Texas requirements) 40-hour evidence-based and manualized CIT program for Lubbock police officers and recruits in reducing the stigma of suicide, increasing suicide management self-efficacy, increasing positive mental health attitudes among officers, and examine the moderators of these changes from before to after the CIT program. Participants included Lubbock Police Department police officers or recruits (N = 139) who completed the pre- and post-CIT training surveys. It was hypothesized that pre- to post-CIT stigma of suicide, positive mental health attitudes, help-seeking stereotypes, and suicide risk management self-efficacy would significantly change. It was also hypothesized that moderators (e.g., personal exposure to suicide and personal exposure to mental health crises) would significantly impact the change of pre- to post-CIT scores. Aligned with the hypotheses, several outcome variables changed significantly (i.e., becoming more positive and indicating a benefit from the training) following participation in the CIT. Exposure to mental health crises significantly moderated the change between pre- to post-CIT on the scale measuring social restrictiveness towards PMI, indicating a significant reduction in social restrictiveness. Several covariates also significantly impacted analyses. Further, the implications of this study could allow for increased understanding of the effectiveness of CIT programs for police officers and recruits in changing their own suicide and mental health attitudes, which could increase police officers’ engagement in psychotherapy and help-seeking for their own mental illness symptoms and suicide risk.