Growing empirical and theoretical evidence for positive and adaptive outcomes signals a need for an alternative conceptualization of the critical incident stress process in police officers. Using a risk management framework, this article conceptualizes critical incident stress in a way that accommodates both positive (e.g., posttraumatic growth) and negative outcomes (e.g., learned avoidance of threat situations). It identifies resilience and vulnerability factors (at personal, team, and environmental levels) and discusses how they interact with incident demands to affect stress risk during the response and reintegration phases of incident response. Strategies to influence resilience and vulnerability factors are discussed.
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