Psychology

Research Proposal
Determination of how Family Level Interventions that can use to Combat Stress among Law Enforcement Officers

Literature Review
There are over 18,000 law enforcement agencies within the United States which serves to highlight the importance attached to maintenance of order (Woody, 2006). Law enforcement officers are deployed at state and federal levels to aid enforcement of laws and regulations. A law enforcement officers ability to make logical decisions and uphold the law is highly determined by the levels of training, experiences and frame of mind (Woody, 2006). This brings out the importance that is attached to ensuring that law enforcement officers are of stable and sound frame of mind. However, recent studies present findings that posit a considerably proportion of law enforcement officers are in need of mental services (Griffin,  Bernard, 2003). With general increase in internal security concerns within the US, the number of law enforcement officers is bound to increase, which is likely to lead to an increase in law enforcement officers that display unstable frame of minds if the condition is left unaddressed.

Law enforcement is subject to unique cultural press that may result in heightened problematic symptoms in officers family lives (Ford, 2003). The police culture is developed and maintained in such a manner that seeks to develop a sense of rank within the police force which is essential for their service to the community (Woody, 2005). The expectations and ideals inculcated within law enforcement officers place them at greater risk of having poor relationships with other members of the society and worse their families. It is therefore not surprising that the police force and law enforcement officers are associated with 70 divorce rate (Brock, Klaus, Harbour,  Nash, 2002 Woody, 2006). This is a reflection of strained family lives which not only add to officers levels of frustration but could also result in the development of a poor perception of the role of the family in their lives.
A large proportion of stress related factors that may affect the police force are results of factors that are within the police force and the perception developed of their activity within the society. Many officers have stated that having to deal with the same criminals several times can be frustrating (Lumb,  Breazeale, 2002). This implies that the legal system to a large part plays a role in the stressful lives being led by law enforcement officers. The poor family life that characterize most law enforcement officers place them in a poor conditions to deal with stress and other forms of emotional and psychological strain (Woody, 2006).

Career development in law enforcement is characterized by increased presence of danger, increased public suspicion, disdain of law enforcement officers authority, and uphold of a police culture that is highly judgmental on each officer (Woody, 2005). These factors interact to create multiple personal problems and a strenuous working environment which may affect friendships and family lives among law enforcement personnel. Furthermore, law enforcement officers are trained and work under a code of complete submission which they tend to apply in other aspects of lives with negative repercussions. Law enforcement officers have been trained to guard and suppress their emotions and stress which affects their ability to cope and deal with the conditions (Ansel, 2000). Moreover, psychological problems affect officers professional records which may blow their chances for professional development this is a risk that officers forego by suppressing their emotional and psychological problems (Loo, 2003). In general, the psychological and emotional problems faced by law enforcement officers are driven by discretionary decision making, leading dangerous lives, public suspicion and disdain, isolation from non-law relationships and lack of proper community and organizational supports.

Gaps in Existing Literature
The existing literature highlights the fact that the police force is faced by a myriad of stress causing factors. However, career issues and cultural factors within law enforcement make it hard for the officers to seek conventional approaches to seeking emotional and psychological help. This leaves family level intervention as a potentially beneficial approach to addressing the stress and strain associated with law enforcement. However, this avenue has not been utilized due to lack of adequate literature on the potential benefits associated with the approach and the strategies that should be adopted in employing family level intervention.

Research Questions
The following are the research questions that will guide the study
What are the requirements in applying family level intervention to addressing stress within the police force
What are the potential benefits associated with the adoption of family level intervention to addressing stress within the police force

Hypotheses
The following hypotheses will help in addressing the research questions
General therapeutic requirements and considerations of the nature of law enforcement are vital in applying family level intervention strategies to addressing stress within the police force.
Increased interaction with non-law enforcement officers, development of multiple coping mechanisms and increase acceptance of the emotional and psychological states are some of the benefits associated with the use of family based intervention strategies in addressing stress within law enforcement.

Methodology
An experimental design will be adopted in the study. Adoption of this design is due to the need to address the gap in knowledge on the potential benefits associated with the use of family level intervention. The experimental design also ensures the study is designed in a manner that captures the research question and problem. Thus, the research design has been formulated via consideration on the nature of the research problem.

Participants
The population in the study is all psychotherapists that have had experiences dealing with clients from the police force. It is noteworthy that family based intervention is minimally employed within the police force which implies that determining its benefits by considering officers that have undergone such an intervention may limit data. However, psychotherapists that have interacted with law enforcement officers (as clients) have knowledge of the challenges faced by the officers, theoretical and practical knowledge of family based intervention and are therefore better placed to address the research questions. All participants in the study will be considered for analysis so as to maximize the size of the sample thus its external validity.

Procedures
The first step in the study will be developing a list of psychotherapists. The next step in the study would be to visits them and explain the aim and nature of the study and the data required by the study. Moreover, the visit will help determine if they have had clients from law enforcement. Only psychotherapists that will agree to be involved in the study will be considered for data collection.
Data collection will be carried out with the aid of interviews. The interviews will include questions seeking the participants opinion on the potential benefits and strategies that should be used in employing family level intervention in handling stress within law enforcement. The interviews will involve likert-type questions that will seek to quantify the participants perception of the benefits associated with family level intervention over other interventions. SPSS version 14 will be used in chi-square analysis to determine if the perceived differences between family based intervention and other therapeutic approaches are significant.  Average anxiety scores relayed by participants will also be used to compare the ratings before family based intervention and after use of family based interventions.

It is noteworthy that use of an interview allows flexibility in designing the questions in a manner that addresses the research questions and eases data collection. Analysis of the data will be at the descriptive level and will involve tabulation and review of the participants response in relation to the research questions. Use of tables and visual aids, construction of process flow charts will help ensure that the research questions are addressed comprehensively. Use of SPSS in ANOVA and Chi square analysis will help determine differences between anxiety scores and perceived improvements as per the information relayed by the respondents.

Validity, Reliability and Ethical consideration
The study defined the participants as practicing psychotherapists that have had law enforcement officers as their clients. This ensures that the participants have theoretical and practical knowledge of the issues being addressed by the study. Furthermore, inclusion of all participants in the sample for analysis maximizes the external validity of the study. It is noteworthy that the researcher has no control of the participants that will engage in the study since participation is out of free will. This ensures randomization of the sample which is important in addressing threats to the internal validity of the study. The study not only seeks informed participation but also generalizes the experiences and knowledge that participants have of the problem being addressed. This implies that the study avoids infringing on patients privacy since it does not seek data on specific patients (Woody, 2004).

Variables
The dependent variables in the study are strategies required to apply family level intervention and the benefits associated with family level intervention. These dependent variables are affected by a number of independent variables which include general therapeutic requirements, nature of law enforcement, increased interaction with non-law enforcement officers, development of multiple coping mechanisms and increase acceptance of the emotional and psychological states. These variables can be operationalized by considering the therapeutic requirements in handling stress and some of the common strategies adopted in dealing with such strain and stress. Likert-type questions will be used in quantifying the variables.

Materials
The following table presents a summary of the materials that may be used in the study
Materials and ActivitiesCosts ()Traveling200Stationery100Internet access50Printing50Binding75Miscellaneous50Total525

Discussion
The study may highlight the importance of strengthening family relation to the success of family level intervention. Furthermore, the study may highlight increased coping ability and acceptance as potential benefits associated with family level intervention when applied to addressing stress within the police force. Therefore the study is of critical importance to creating awareness on the potential benefits associate with the use of family level interventions in dealing with stress within the police force. Moreover, the research will serve to develop awareness among researchers on the use of family based interventions that will result in increased research and better practical strategies in handling stress within law enforcement.