Feasibility and acceptability of mindfulness-based resilience training for problematic alcohol use, mental health, and aggression in rural law enforcement officers

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The stress inherent to policing affects both officer health as well as the safety of their respective communities. Our current and previous research has shown that Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training (MBRT) leads to improvement in law enforcement officer (LEO) mental health and behavioral outcomes, including alcohol use and aggression. In our current multisite R01 feasibility trial of MBRT, we have successfully met key feasibility and acceptability benchmarks in urban and suburban LEO samples. What is lacking is exploration of feasibility and acceptability in rural LEOs, who face unique stressors and challenges, and an integration of evidence-based preventive intervention components to directly target problematic alcohol use. Individuals living in rural communities are recognized as a target population for health disparities research. Rural LEOs experience stressors specific to rural populations such as isolation and work-role overload, yet often have fewer resources, including less access to stress management trainings and mental health care, compared to their urban and suburban counterparts. The combination of high stress coupled with low resources supporting mental health and performance may lead to increased reliance on maladaptive behaviors, such as excessive alcohol use. Indeed, LEOs have disproportionately higher rates of alcohol use, not only affecting their own health and wellbeing but also exacerbating effects of stress on aggression and excessive force in critical incidents. Preliminary evidence suggests alcohol use may be more problematic among rural, relative to urban, LEOs. The proposed supplement would support collection of data on feasibility and acceptability of MBRT in under-resourced rural LEOs to inform further adaptations to better serve this community. Additionally, we propose to integrate specific elements of an evidence-based mindfulness intervention for substance use disorders to explicitly address problematic alcohol use and associated consequences among rural LEOs, enhancing effects of MBRT on officer health, and in turn reducing aggression and excessive use of force in critical incidents. Completion of supplement aims will strengthen support for a multisite trial of an intervention that holds great potential to reduce aggression and increase health and wellbeing among urban, suburban and rural LEOs and the communities they serve.