Research That Matters (January 17 - 20, 2008)

Procedural Justice theory suggests that when people are treated with respect and dignity by authority figures that are concerned about their well being, they are more likely to cooperate and be satisfied with the process. This has been supported in a variety of settings, including organizations, court proceedings, civil commitment proceedings and citizen interactions with police officers. In this study, we apply procedural justice theory to understand how persons with mental illness experience interactions with the police and how officer behaviors shape cooperation or resistance (and subsequent outcomes). Existing measures of perceived procedural justice among persons with mental illness were not designed for the context of police interaction. Thus, we employ a sequential qualitative to quantitative design. Qualitative methods were used initially to explore the experiences of persons with mental illness, identify procedural justice and additional emergent themes and assess the appropriateness of the MacArthur Procedural Justice and Coercion measures for the context of interest. From this data, we developed the Police Contact Experience Survey (PCES). The PCES incorporates the MacArthur scales with some revision, along with items taping characteristics of the incident and themes that emerged as important in the qualitative interviews. Cognitive testing (n=20) was used to determine if participants understood the PCES items and if they adequately tap the constructs of interest. Several items were identified as problematic (including 2 MacArthur items) and revised or dropped from the measure. The modified PCES was administered along with measures of symptoms, illness insight, and perceived stigma to 150 persons receiving services at a community mental health center who had contact with the police in the preceding 12 months. Psychometric properties of the PCES subscales will be discussed, as will the relevance of findings from both the qualitative and quantitative phases for policy and police and social work practice.