Rational emotive behaviour therapy as a means of managing stress, promoting self-determined motivation, and psychological wellbeing within British policing

Jones, Jennifer Kathryn (2023) Rational emotive behaviour therapy as a means of managing stress, promoting self-determined motivation, and psychological wellbeing within British policing. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the application of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) to manage stress and support the motivation and psychological wellbeing of United Kingdom police personnel. REBT is a psychotherapeutic approach which aims to assist individuals in coping with adversity by assessing the extent to which they adopt irrational or rational beliefs. Reducing irrational beliefs and increasing rational beliefs is believed to promote functional and healthy responses to adversities. The detrimental effects of irrational beliefs on psychological health are established in a wide variety of contexts, yet, to date, less is understood about their antecedent effects on the experience of stress and motivation within a police context. Considering the epidemic of stress and its consequent effects on health within policing, this thesis adds to the extant literature in three ways. The first aim of this thesis was to examine the cognitive antecedents of police stress and motivation by assessing levels of irrational beliefs in a large cross-sectional study. Second, the effectiveness of an REBT stress management intervention was examined, nomothetically and idiographically to assess intervention effects at a group and individual level. Third, an autoethnographic review of the application of REBT within a U.K. police organisation is presented to offer practical insights and guidance on the application of REBT to support police personnel. The main findings of this thesis are that, first, irrational beliefs are significant antecedents of stress and poor motivation quality within a police sample. Second, REBT can be an effective intervention to reduce stress and support the motivation and psychological wellbeing of police senior leaders, but that stress, motivation, and psychological wellbeing occur in complex and unique ways for individuals. The main conclusion of this thesis is that REBT is supported as an effective approach to stress management within police wellbeing strategies and highlights frustration intolerance irrational beliefs and amotivation as particularly important. Several theoretical, research and practical implications that have emerged as a result of the investigations presented in this thesis are discussed.