Coping e engagement em recrutas da polícia

A Polícia é considerada uma das instituições com um trabalho mais stressante (McCarty, Zhao & Garland, 2007). Actualmente os estudos do stress têm vindo a passar da perspectiva de análise da fraqueza e do mao-estar, para o enfatizar da força e do funcionamento optimizado (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), tentando apresentar propostas de gestão do stress e rentabilização dos recursos individuais (Baker, 2009). Conhecer as estratégias de coping e os niveis de engagement de recrutas de Polícia, bem como a interrelação entre coping e engagement. Participaram 250 alunos da Escola Prática de Policia, todos do sexo masculino, idade média de 24,2 anos e média de aproveitamento na academia de 14,8. Usou-se um questionário de auto preenchimento aplicdo no último mês da formação, com versões portuguesas do Brief Cope (Carver, 1997, Pais-Ribeiro & Rodrigues, 2004) e UWES (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003; Marques-Pinto & Picado, 2011). Encontraram-se elevados niveis de engagement (entre 4,45 e 4,67) e recurso predominante a estratégias de coping activas. O coping prediz o engagement (20% da absorção, 12% do vigor e 11% da dedicação), estando as estratégias activa correlacionadas de forma positiva com o engagement. Os resultados vão no sentido da literatura sobre a actividade polical, com os elementos mais motivados/engaged a utilizarem estratégias de coping mais centradas no problema e no suporte social (Rothmann et al., 2011). A prevenção do stress nos policias deveria incluir o conhecimento das estratégias de coping e valorizar a motivação para a tarefa.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Psychological stress and psychological well-being among sports coaches: a close proximity longitudinal daily diary study

It is essential to understand sports coaches’ experiences of psychological stress and psychological well-being (PWB) on a daily basis to better equip coaches to manage stress and improve well-being. Coaches make a vital contribution to sport and, given the potentially stressful nature of coaches’ roles, are required to manage their own PWB and performance alongside that of the athletes with whom they work. To better understand how to support coaches, we explored coaches’ experiences of stressors, primary appraisals, coping, and PWB using a close proximity longitudinal daily diary approach. Five sports coaches (one woman and four men) each completed an interval-contingent, daily diary over a 28-day period. The diary facilitated understanding of the coaches’ experiences of their worlds and captured descriptions of the coaches’ daily lives. Underpinned by our constructivist paradigm and following an abductive approach to data analysis, four experiences are presented (preparing for major events and championships, competition, admin and national governing body-related tasks, and work-life balance) using a trajectory approach. This method of data presentation allows understanding of each coach’s journey through their experiences as they occurred over the 28-day period. The experiences are categorized into themes representing stressors, primary appraisals, coping, and PWB. Collectively, the findings highlight that coaches experienced certain stressors (e.g., athlete-related) on a regular basis, and that they appraised (e.g., as a challenge) and coped with these experiences in different ways (e.g., via information seeking). The findings also demonstrate that stress experiences influenced different elements of the coaches’ PWB (e.g., relationships with others, personal growth) and that, occasionally, coaches may experience delayed or inaccessible appraisals of a stressor. LAY SUMMARY Five sports coaches’ experiences of psychological stress and psychological well-being are explored using close proximity daily diaries over a 28-day period. Four experiences (preparing for major events and championships, competition, admin and national governing body-related tasks, and work-life balance) are discussed to highlight how psychological stress influences coaches’ psychological well-being

Wearable Biomonitoring Platform for the Assessment of Stress and its Impact on Cognitive Performance of Firefighters: An Experimental Study

Background: Stress is a complex process with an impact on health and performance. The use of wearable sensor-based monitoring systems offers interesting opportunities for advanced health care solutions for stress analysis. Considering the stressful nature of firefighting and its importance for the community’s safety, this study was conducted for firefighters. Objectives: A biomonitoring platform was designed, integrating different biomedical systems to enable the acquisition of real time Electrocardiogram (ECG), computation of linear Heart Rate Variability (HRV) features and collection of perceived stress levels. This platform was tested using an experimental protocol, designed to understand the effect of stress on firefighter’s cognitive performance, and whether this effect is related to the autonomic response to stress. Method: The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) was used as a testing platform along with a 2-Choice Reaction Time Task. Linear HRV features from the participants were acquired using an wearable ECG. Self-reports were used to assess perceived stress levels. Results: The TSST produced significant changes in some HRV parameters (AVNN, SDNN and LF/HF) and subjective measures of stress, which recovered after the stress task. Although these short-term changes in HRV showed a tendency to normalize, an impairment on cognitive performance was found after performing the stress event. Conclusion: Current findings suggested that stress compromised cognitive performance and caused a measurable change in autonomic balance. Our wearable biomonitoring platform proved to be a useful tool for stress assessment and quantification. Future studies will implement this biomonitoring platform for the analysis of stress in ecological settings

Gender and personality differences in coping in sport

[Introduction]: Inability to cope with stress in sport has been associated with sport withdrawal (Klint & Weis, 1986; Smith, 1986), decreased performance (Lazarus, 2000), and athletes not being able to pursue careers in professional sport (Holt & Dunn, 2004). It is therefore crucial to both researchers and practitioners working with athletes to have a greater understanding of coping in sport in order to design effective interventions and to make sport a more satisfying experience (Nicholls & Polman, 2007a). Since the 1990s there has been an increase in published studies in coping in sport. However, the understanding of factors which might influence coping in sport is still unclear and under researched. For example, gender appears to be a moderator variable influencing the stress and coping process. Nevertheless the relationship between gender and coping in sport appears to be equivocal. Some studies have reported gender differences in coping preferences (e.g., Hammermeister & Burton, 2004; Nicholls, Polman, Levy, Taylor, & Cobley, 2007) whereas other studies did not find differences between male and female athletes in coping preferences (e.g., Bebetsos & Antoniou, 2003; Kowalski, Crocker, Hoar & Niefer, 2005). Also, as suggested by the mainstream psychology literature, personality has been considered to be a moderator factor that could influence each aspect of the stress-coping process. However, little is known about this relationship between personality and coping in sport. This is true for the basic dimensions of personality (The Big Five) and the sport specific personality trait mental toughness. An understanding about male and female coping preferences is essential from both an applied and theoretical perspective. For example, it would allow practitioners to develop gender specific programmes for males and females to cope more effectively with stress. Also, further knowledge into the relationship between personality and coping is required, in order to design effective intervention programmes that fit individual needs