Effects on Participant Knowledge, Situational Anxiety, and Social Distance Attitudes Following CIT Training

Abstract

Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) promote community collaboration to better assist people living with mental illness and/or drug addiction who are in crisis (Mission, n.d.). A core element of the CIT model is the 40 h training focused on increasing law enforcement officers’ knowledge of behavioral health issues and use of de-escalation skills in crisis response (CIT International, n.d.). The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of CIT training in a mid-size, Midwestern county on (1) participants’ knowledge of mental illness and related concepts, (2) situational anxiety in crisis response, and (3) enhancing perceived comfort with people living with mental illness. This one-group pre-test/posttest study was conducted with four CIT training groups (n = 72) between 2017 and 2019. Findings indicate that participant knowledge and perceived comfort interacting with persons living with a mental illness were improved after the trainings, supporting use of CIT trainings in mid-size and rural communities.

Appendix

Crisis Intervention Team Training Test

• 1. Of the four symptoms of a mental disturbance call listed below, which one is most likely to result in some form of physical violence towards the police officer or someone nearby?

  • a. Talking to self.

  • b. Inappropriate lack of clothing in a public place (e.g. person wearing no shoes or shirt during snowy weather).

  • c. Hearing “command voices” that order the person to do certain things.

  • d. Carrying out the same behavior over and over again (e.g. touching a sign pole or parking meter for several minutes at a time).

• 2. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of mental illness?

  • a. Permanent intellectual impairment.

  • b. Hearing or seeing things which are not there.

  • c. Illogical thoughts or false beliefs.

  • d. Extreme fluctuations in mood.

• 3. Immediate Detentions (ID) and Emergency Detentions (ED) differ from one another in the following way(s)

  • a. ID up to 24 h hold, ED is a 72 h hold.

  • b. The signature of the person being detained is required to file for an ED.

  • c. ID is more restrictive.

  • d. All of the above.

• 4. Cognitive (intellectual) disability differs from Mental Illness (MI) in that

  • a. Mental illness has nothing to do with a person’s level of intelligence.

  • b. The incidence of cognitive disability in the population is low comparable to MI which is much higher.

  • c. Cognitive disability is present at birth or occurs during early development but mental illness may have its onset at any age.

  • d. All of the above.

• 5. Which of the following groups is most likely to “successfully complete” a suicide attempt?

  • a. Teenage girls under the age of 18.

  • b. Women between the ages of 28 and 40.

  • c. College students of either sex.

  • d. Men over the age of 45.

• 6. Counteracting a suicidal person’s feeling (“Things are not as bad as they seem” or “I know that you really don’t want to kill yourself”) is a

  • a. Good idea because it encourages the person to see his problems from a broader perspective.

  • b. Good idea because it is an effective way of opening channels of communication.

  • c. Poor idea because it will rarely have any effect, positive or negative.

  • d. Poor idea because the person may conclude that the officer does not understand the situation or is not taking it seriously.

• 7. Less than 10% of persons with mental illness also have substance use disorders.

  • a. True

  • b. False

• 8. Symptoms of both a mental health disorder that also mirror substance abuse after affects include:

  • a. Hallucinations

  • b. Elevated mood

  • c. 1Insomnia

  • d. All of the above

• 9. When communicating with someone who has Autism, you need to remember that

  • a. You should touch them to help them feel connected with you.

  • b. Individuals with autism take everything at face value or literal.

  • c. Lengthy explanations are helpful for understanding.

  • d. Use of modeling behavior or physical prompts is demeaning.

• 10. Gravely disabled is a legal term that refers to a person who is in danger of coming into harm because:

  • a. The individual is unable to provide for food, shelter, clothing, or other essential needs.

  • b. The individual has a substantial impairment or an obvious deterioration of judgement, reasoning, or behavior.

  • c. The individual is unable to function independently.

  • d. All of the above.

• 11. The three prong approach includes officers considering the following questions:

  • a. Do you have a reason to believe the individual has a mental illness?

  • b. Are they a danger to themselves, danger to others, or are they gravely disabled?

  • c. Do they need to be medicated?

  • d. Are they in need of immediate hospitalization?

  • e. All but c.

• 12. The 4 winning plays in the verbal crisis plan include:

  • a. Introduce yourself; ask for the individual’s name: repeat what they say; refer for a mental health assessment.

  • b. Introduce yourself; ask for the individual’s name; label the emotions you see; summarize what the person has told you.

  • c. Introduce yourself; ask for the individual’s name; repeat what they say; complete a mental health assessment.

  • d. Ask for the individual’s name; label the emotions you see; summarize what the person has told you; tell them to calm down.

On a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 represents the lowest level of anxiety and 10 represents the highest level of anxiety, please rate the level of anxiety you would experience at this point in your career in each of the following situations if you received a call from the dispatcher sending you to:

a.____ A call involving a drunken person on foot in a downtown parking lot

b.____ A suspicious person in a grocery store

c.____ A family dispute call with no known weapons involved

d.____ A mentally ill person in a house yelling at other family members with no known weapons involved

e.____ A suspected burglary call

f.____ An armed robbery in progress

g.____ A mentally ill person on the street carrying a sword

h.____ A person speeding away from you after your lights and siren have been turned on

Please answer how much you agree or disagree with the following statements by placing a checkmark in the box that represents your answer.

	Strongly Agree	Slightly Agree	Neither Agree nor Disagree	Slightly Disagree	Strongly Disagree
As soon as a person shows signs of mental illness or addiction, he/she should be hospitalized
I would not want to sit on a bus next to someone with mental illness or addiction
I would be comfortable having an individual who has suffered from mental illness and addiction in the past marry into my family
I would not want to live next door to someone who has been mentally ill
If a friend has a mental health/addictions problem, I am comfortable supporting them and giving them advice or helping them find resources
Most people with mental health or addiction problems don’t want to work
I would be comfortable hiring someone with mental illness or addiction to work in my home if they are stable and free of symptoms
People with severe mental health problems can fully recover
There are sufficient existing services for people with mental illness and addiction