Stress Management Strategies and Cognitive Schemas Specific to Police Officers from the Operational Structures of the Romanian Police

Abstract

This study aims to identify the cognitive schemas and the coping mechanisms in newly employed staff within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, at the level of a police subunit, in order to come up with a training program which increases their resilience to institutional demands. The group that took part in this survey consisted of 275 individuals, both agents and police officers, graduates of post-high school studies/relevant university studies or persons employed from external sources. Two research tools were applied, and they aided in the identification of the connection between the cognitive schemas and the coping strategies in order to design a new institutional intervention program whose goal is to mitigate the early non-adaptive cognitive schemas and the development of adaptive coping mechanisms. UDC: 351.74:331.442(498); JEL: D23, M54