Royal Canadian Mounted Police cadets' exposure to potentially psychologically traumatic events during the Cadet Training Program

• Published in: Journal of traumatic stress 2024-12
• Main Authors: Andrews, Katie L, Maguire, Kirby Q, Jamshidi, Laleh, Afifi, Tracie O, Nisbet, Jolan, Shields, Robyn E, Teckchandani, Taylor A, Asmundson, Gordon J G, Brunet, Alain, Lix, Lisa M, Sauer-Zavala, Shannon, Sareen, Jitender, Keane, Terence M, Neary, J Patrick, Carleton, R Nicholas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0894-9867; 1573-6598; 1573-6598
• DOI: 10.1002/jts.23115

Lifetime exposures to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs) among Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) cadets starting the Cadet Training Program (CTP) appear lower than exposures reported by serving RCMP, but the prevalence of PPTE exposures during the CTP remains unknown. The current study assessed PPTE exposures during the CTP and examined associations with mental disorders among RCMP cadets. Participants were cadets (n = 449, 24.7% women) from the larger RCMP Longitudinal Study who self-reported critical incidents, PPTE exposures, and mental health disorder symptoms at pretraining and predeployment. Most participants reported no exposures to a PPTE (n = 374, 83.3%) during the CTP. Participants who reported any PPTE exposure (n = 75, 16.7%; i.e., direct or indirect) most commonly reported serious transport accidents, physical assault, and sudden accidental death. The most common direct PPTEs (i.e., "happened to me") during the CTP were physical assault (n = 13), other unwanted or uncomfortable sexual experience (n = 11), and serious transportation accident (n = 8). The total number of PPTE types reported at predeployment was associated with increased odds of screening positive for any mental health disorder, aOR = 1.22, 95% CI [1.01, 1.49], p = .049, and positively associated with mental health disorder symptoms, ps