Psychological skills inventory for law enforcement (PSI-LE): development and validation of a multidimensional measure of psychological skill use for law enforcement

ABSTRACT

The primary purpose of the present study was to develop a practical, reliable, and valid self-assessment of the use of psychological skills for law enforcement personnel. The Psychological Skills Inventory – Law Enforcement (PSI-LE) gauges the use of seven central mental skills common within psychological skills training (PST) programs: attention management, winning mindset, combat breathing, muscle control, mental practice, physical recharge, and self-talk. Following a developmental pilot of the scale, the PSI-LE was administered to 576 law enforcement officers. The ensuing analyses resulted in a final 26-item inventory that demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties. Findings are discussed with respect to practical implications and future research involving the PSI-LE. Specific emphasis is placed on the use of the PSI-LE to assess and validate the impact of officer PST programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychological skills
• self-assessment
• inventory
• mental resilience

Author note

The authors would like to thank J. Pope and C. Burns for their assistances with data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. All officers had previously undergone PRO training as part of academy curriculum or annual in-service training.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by CNA and the cooperative agreement 2016-CR-WX-K005 awarded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice.

Notes on contributors

William M. Land

William M. Land, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Sport Psychology in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He received his PhD from Florida State University. Dr. Land’s research interests lie in the areas of psychological skills training, attentional focus, performance under pressure, and expertise. His work has been published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Psychology of Sport and Exercise, Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, and Acta Psychologica.

Jianmin Guan

Jianmin Guan, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He received his PhD from Texas A&M University. His research interests include achievement goals and classroom climates, physical activity measurement, and application of standard scores in performance.

Page Smith

Page Smith, PhD, is a Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research pursuits target organizational studies and involve quantitative analysis. Specifically, his scholarly areas of emphasis include organizational climate and health, institutional trust, collective efficacy, student aggression and bullying, institutional change and influence. Accordingly, his most recent publications (Educational Administration Quarterly, The International Journal of Education Management, Journal of School Leadership and Journal of Education Administration) reflect his contributions to the field in these areas.

Brandi Burque

Brandi Burque, PhD, is a psychologist with Bexar County Sheriff’s Office where she is responsible for providing psychological treatment for police officers and their families, teaching classes for the police academy, and on call with their Crisis Negotiation Unit. She formerly was a staff psychologist for the San Antonio Police Department from 2013-2019.