Abstract
This paper reports the effectiveness of Emotional Fitness Training launched by the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) in enhancing four aspects of emotional fitness in police officers, namely resilience, positive emotions, cognitive flexibility, and emotional well-being. The Emotional Fitness Training workshops evaluated were conducted in three phases. Phase 1 workshops were offered to junior police officers and frontline commanders for voluntary participation. Phase 2 workshops were offered to supervisory staff with train-the-trainer purposes. Phase 3 workshops were also offered to supervisory staff, but as a regular training-day activity to let the staff learn to deliver training packages. A total of 300 respondents participated in the program evaluation exercises, and these were assessed before the workshop (pretest), immediately after the workshop (posttest), and 10 weeks after the workshop took place (10 weeks posttest). Most of the seven measures registered statistically significant improvements compared to pretest in all three training phases. We noted varying effectiveness in the three phases of training that could be attributed to the amount of out-of-class practice engaged in by the participants. We measured professional pride and organizational commitment 1 year after the workshop and found that workshop participants reported greater pride and commitment compared with nonparticipants of the same rank. Among workshop participants, those with better emotional fitness also reported greater pride and commitment. The findings provide strong evidence supporting the effectiveness of emotional fitness training to enhance resilience, positive emotions, cognitive flexibility, and emotional well-being, and more importantly, they strengthen professional pride and organizational commitment even 1 year after training.
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All authors have no financial or nonfinancial interests that could be resulted from the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. The only possible interest is the reporting of positive results that could enhance the image of the Police Force with which all authors are affiliated in different capacities.
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Au, W.T., Wong, Y.Y., Leung, K.M. et al. Effectiveness of Emotional Fitness Training in Police. J Police Crim Psych 34, 199–214 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9252-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9252-6