Mental health of Royal Canadian Mounted Police after the first year of service

Abstract

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) frequently report symptoms consistent with positive screens for one or more mental health disorders (65%), but RCMP cadets evidence a much lower prevalence (7.3%) prior to deployment. The differences in mental health between cadets and experienced RCMP implicates mental health challenges to be related to service experiences; however, less is known about how mental health changes during the first year of service. The current study examines changes in mental health during the first year of service. At 1-year follow-up, participants (n = 181; 72.8% male) reported higher symptom severity (ds =.09 to.53, all ps