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Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand How Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training Facilitates Police Officers’ Mental Health Referrals

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Abstract

The Theory of Planned Behavior posits that behaviors are predicted by one’s intention to perform them; intention is driven by attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. We used this theory to predict Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)-trained and non-CIT officers’ intention to facilitate referral of persons with suspected mental illnesses to mental health services. CIT-trained (n = 251) and non-CIT (n = 335) officers from six law enforcement agencies participated. CIT-trained officers had significantly greater scores on all constructs. Theory constructs fit the data well, and fit did not differ meaningfully between the two groups. Direct and indirect predictors together accounted for 28% and 21%, respectively, of variance in behavioral intention. Attitude was the strongest predictor. Intentions to facilitate mental health referrals may be driven by the same factors among CIT-trained and non-CIT officers, but CIT officers, even at a median of 22 months after training, have significantly higher scores on those factors.

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Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by National Institute of Mental Health grant R01 MH082813 (“Modeling Officer-Level Effects of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training”) to the first author. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or National Institute of Mental Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, 722 W. 168th Street, Room R249, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Michael T. Compton

  2. New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA

    Michael T. Compton

  3. Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Shaily Krishan

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Beth Broussard, Dana Hankerson-Dyson, Letheshia Husbands & Barbara D’Orio

  5. Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Roger Bakeman

  6. Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Matthew H. Fleischmann

  7. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Tarianna Stewart

  8. Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Brandon del Pozo

  9. Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Amy C. Watson

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  1. Michael T. Compton
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  2. Shaily Krishan
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  3. Beth Broussard
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  4. Roger Bakeman
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  9. Barbara D’Orio
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Correspondence to Michael T. Compton.

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Compton, M.T., Krishan, S., Broussard, B. et al. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Understand How Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training Facilitates Police Officers’ Mental Health Referrals. Community Ment Health J 58, 1112–1120 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-021-00920-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-021-00920-8

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