Relative Impact of Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Psychological Flexibility on Alcohol Use and Burnout Among Law Enforcement Officers.

In the present study, we investigated the relative impact of improvements in mindfulness, self-compassion, and psychological flexibility in predicting decreased burnout and alcohol use in a sample of law enforcement officers (LEOs) participating in a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI). This study is a secondary analysis of pre/post data collected as part of a larger randomized controlled trial of mindfulness-based resilience training (MBRT). This secondary analysis comprises pre/post data from 28 LEOs recruited from a metropolitan area and its outlying regions in the Pacific Northwest. MBRT is a MBI tailored specifically to the culture and needs of LEOs and other first responders. All included data were obtained through self-report measures. Mindfulness was assessed by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-Short Form, self-compassion was assessed by the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form, psychological flexibility was assessed by the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II, alcohol use was measured by the PROMIS (v1.0) Alcohol Use-Short Form, and burnout was assessed by the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory. In the first regression, only increases in mindfulness significantly predicted decreased postintervention problematic alcohol use. In the second regression, only increases in self-compassion significantly predicted decreased postintervention burnout. This study builds upon a growing body of literature on the relative impact of mindfulness, self-compassion, and psychological flexibility in predicting outcomes among high-stress cohorts. Results suggest that different components of MBIs may be emphasized to achieve unique benefits. The Clinical Trial Registration number for the parent study is NCT02521454.