Barriers and Motivators to Seeking Mental Health Support: An Assessment of a Southeastern Sheriff's Office

• Published date: 01 December 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/07340168231154274
• Author: Carol M. Huynh,Hunter M. Boehme,Daniel Lytle
• Date: 01 December 2024

Barriers and Motivators

to Seeking Mental Health

Support: An Assessment of a

Southeastern Sheriff’sOffice

Carol M. Huynh

1

, Hunter M. Boehme

2

,

and Daniel Lytle

3

Abstract

Limited research has examined what factors serve as potential barriersand motivators for law

enforcement personnel in seeking mental health support. The current study presents findings

from a survey of 158 sworn and civilian personnel from a large Southeastern Sheriff’soffice to

shed light on these potential barriers/motivators. We drew on previous literature to create mea-

sures related to mental health stigma, confidentiality, burnout, various stressors, and organizational

support, among others. The main effects OLS regression models suggest that increased perceptions

of stigma and personal stressors significantly lowered employees’willingness to seek mental health

support. However, increased burnout and job satisfaction were associated with employees seeking

mental health support. Multiplicative models show that as job satisfaction increased within nonwhite

respondents, those respondents were significantly more likely to seek mental health assistance.

However, as personal stressors increased among nonwhite respondents, those respondents were

significantly less likely to seek help. Finally, as overall health increased among white respondents,

those respondents were significantly more likely to seek help. Findings indicate that mental health

issues experienced by employees vary based on group membership. We discuss several future

research directions and policy implications derived from these findings.

Keywords

law enforcement, stress, mental health, agency resources, survey research

1

Department of Criminal Justice, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC, USA

2

Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

3

Department of Criminal Justice, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD, USA

Corresponding Author:

Carol M. Huynh, Department of Criminal Justice, North Carolina Central University, 1801 Fayetteville St, Durham, NC

27707, USA.

Email: chuynh@nccu.edu

Article

Criminal Justice Review

2024, Vol. 49(4) 519-545

© 2023 Georgia State University

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/07340168231154274

journals.sagepub.com/home/cjr

Introduction

The overall health and wellness of American civilians during the COVID-19 pandemic has deterio-

rated over time (Pfefferbaum & North, 2020). The pandemic has caused increased levels of stress,

which may be an important contributor to such mental health decline (Xiong et al., 2020).

Deteriorated mental health may contribute to depression, suicide, and increased contact with law

enforcement (Livingston, 2016). Therefore, interventions intended to promote mental health

during the pandemic may help mitigate some of the negative effects among those with declining

mental health conditions.

Although law enforcement is portrayed, or, portray themselves as unemotional and “tough”

(Papazoglou, Koskelainen, & Stuewe, 2019), they too are susceptible to the consequences of

high levels of stress and fatigue. Law enforcement is a known dangerous and high-stress job

(Woody, 2005) that can lead to several negative health outcomes including obesity, depression,

and suicide (McCarty & Skogan, 2013). Therefore, in order for law enforcement personnel to

effectively carry out their duties, the mental health and well-being of law enforcement should

be an important priority for law enforcement administrators. Potentially making matters

worse, the COVID-19 pandemic may perpetuate existing mental health conditions among law

enforcement, requiring immediate attention by the organization. Equally concerning is the anti-

police sentiment the ensued following the George Floyd incident. The increased negative atten-

tion on police may have adversely impacted the way officers view their jobs and themselves.

Mourtgos, Adams, and Nix (2021) investigated police turnover at a large law enforcement

agency in the western region of the United States and found a sharp rise in voluntary resignation

shortly after Floyd’sdeath.

While there has been some research on the effects of law enforcement-related stress and burnout

on the mental health of law enforcement employees, in comparison to other avenues of policing

scholarship (e.g., use of force), mental health and wellness is largely underexplored. In particular,

research centered around pandemic-related stress for law enforcement is limited (see Stogner,

Miller, & McLean, 2020 for exception). Therefore, the present study utilizes an original survey

from a large Southeastern sheriff’soffice to examine the willingness of law enforcement personnel

to use stress intervention services. This study offers timely insight to the current wellness oflaw

enforcement employees and the effects of job-related stress, burnout, and other potential negative

outcomes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-George Floyd incident in May of

2020. Findings from this study offer important and timely implications for law enforcement admin-

istrations and organizational leaders.

Literature Review

Law Enforcement Stress: Causes and Consequences

Law enforcement officers are frequently exposed to high levels of stress, which can stem from

various aspects of the job and/or the organizational work environment (Adams & Buck, 2010;

Purba & Demou, 2019; Shane, 2010; Violanti et al., 2016). On one hand, stress related to the occu-

pation are exposure to traumatic events, spontaneous assaults, and use of deadly force. On the other

hand, organizational stressors include such things as dealing with coworkers, bureaucratic red tape,

and uneven distribution of tasks. Beyond these two categories, stressors can also present themselves

while officers are off-duty; that is, stress experienced outside of their regular work shift (e.g., personal

relationships) (Patterson, Chung, & Swan., 2014).

Due to this stress and the nature of the job, officers are also at an increased risk of experiencing job

burnout (Basinska & Dåderman, 2019; Queirós et al., 2020; Schaible & Gecas, 2010; Violanti et al.,

2018). McCarty and Skogan (2013) surveyed sworn and nonsworn law enforcement personnel from

520 Criminal Justice Review 49(4)