Police Moral Injury, Compassion Fatigue, and Compassion Satisfaction: A Brief Report

Authors

  • Brooke McQuerrey Tuttle
  • Karolina Stancel
  • Chuck Russo
  • Mari Koskelainen
  • Konstantinos Papazoglou

Keywords:

moral injury, compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, law enforcement, police stress, trauma

Abstract

Police compassion fatigue, or the emotional cost of caring associated with police work, can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder, work dissatisfaction, depression, burnout, self-criticism and destructive coping strategies. Similarly, officers may experience moral injury in the line of duty when they witness or become involved in acts that transgress their moral beliefs. The strains of compassion fatigue and moral injury may negatively influence police compassion satisfaction, or the positive feelings and benefits experienced because of caring for others. The purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of compassion fatigue and moral injury on police compassion satisfaction among a sample of police officers from the National Police of Finland (n=454). Results indicated that greater levels of compassion fatigue and moral injury were significantly associated with low levels of compassion satisfaction. Clinical and practical ideas are offered, with the aim of minimizing the effects of compassion fatigue and moral injury while promoting compassion satisfaction for law enforcement officers.

Author Biographies

  • Brooke McQuerrey Tuttle

    Brooke McQuerrey Tuttle MS, PhD serves as the Program Manager for the Center for Family Resilience at Oklahoma State University (OSU) where she leads community research. She received her MS in Criminal Justice from the University of Central Missouri and is a current PhD student in Human Sciences at OSU. Her interests include risk and resilience for law enforcement officers and their families.

  • Karolina Stancel

    Karolina Stancel graduated with honors from University of Toronto majoring in psychology and criminology. She is interested in the study of mental and physical well-being. Karolina has served as a research assistant to the Health Adaptation Research on Trauma (HART) lab at the University of Toronto, and the Ontario Correctional Institute (OCI) and plans to pursue graduate education.

  • Chuck Russo

    Chuck Russo PhD is the Program Director of Criminal Justice at American Military University (AMU). He began his career in law enforcement in 1987 in Central Florida and was involved in all areas before retiring in 2013. He completed his doctoral degree in Public Affairs from the University of Central Florida. His recent research and presentations focus on emerging technology and law enforcement applications, posttraumatic stress, and nongovernment intelligence actors.

  • Mari Koskelainen

    Mari Koskelainen PhD is a Senior Advisor at the National Bureau of Investigation in Finland. She completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Plymouth University, UK. She has worked in a forensic medium secure unit in London. In her current post she works as part of a national Threat Assessment Team conducting threat assessments on severe targeted violence.

  • Konstantinos Papazoglou

    Konstantinos Papazoglou received his doctoral degree in psychology (clinical-forensic area) as a Vanier Scholar at the University of Toronto. He is a former police major of the Hellenic Police Force and European College and holds a master’s degree in applied psychology from New York University. His research focuses on stress, trauma prevention, and resilience promotion among police officers.

References

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Published

2023-02-04

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2019)

Section

Research Articles

License

Authors retain copyright in their articles and grant SALUS the right of first publication. The work is simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as appropriate credit is given to the author(s) and the journal, a link to the license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.

How to Cite

Police Moral Injury, Compassion Fatigue, and Compassion Satisfaction: A Brief Report. (2023). Salus Journal, 7(1), 42-57. https://journals.csu.domains/index.php/salusjournal/article/view/96