Stress Inoculation in Police Officers Using Virtual Reality: A Controlled Study

Pedro Gamito, Jorge Oliveira, Jorge Silva, Joana Rosa, Maria L.R. Mendes, Ricardo Dias, Fábio Dias, Shivani A. Mansuklal, Joana Cartaxo, Hélder António, Ágata Salvador

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Policing is a highly demanding and stressful profession. Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a promising tool for enhancing stress management programs, including for police officers. The use of VR in combination with biosensors enables measurement of psychophysiological responses such as peripheral temperature (PT) and skin conductance level (SCL). This study investigated the psychophysiological responses of police officers exposed to a VR scenario simulating a car accident. The study included a total of 63 police officers from the Public Security Police. Participants were divided into three groups based on their police divisions: the Investigation Brigade of Traffic Accidents, the Traffic Surveillance Squad (TSS), and a control group from the Lisbon Metropolitan Command. The results indicated that the VR environment effectively induced psychophysiological arousal, particularly in less experienced officers (TSS), that is, there were significant group differences in mean SCL and PT, showing this group with higher SCL and lower PT during the VR exposure. These results support the potential of VR as a stress inoculation strategy for training police officers and highlight the complex nature of stress responses that are influenced by individual factors and psychopathology.

Original languageEnglish
Article number4
Pages (from-to)253-260
Number of pages8
JournalCyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
Volume27
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2024

Bibliographical note

DBLP License: DBLP's bibliographic metadata records provided through http://dblp.org/ are distributed under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Although the bibliographic metadata records are provided consistent with CC0 1.0 Dedication, the content described by the metadata records is not. Content may be subject to copyright, rights of privacy, rights of publicity and other restrictions.

Keywords

  • occupational stress
  • police officers
  • psychophysiology
  • stress inoculation
  • virtual reality

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