Dissertation Defense Announcement

College of Education announces the Final Dissertation Defense of

Paul Dunaway

for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

March 21, 2019 at 1:00 PM in Ball Hall, Room 107 

Advisor: Leigh Holman

Crisis Intervention Team Training for Law Enforcement: Analyzing the Factors that Influence Verbal De-Escalation Skills Attainment in the "Memphis Model"

ABSTRACT: The below abstract is shorter than the requirements indicated due to this dissertation being presented in the journal article format for submission. Tentatively, this will be submitted to the journal of Military and Government Counseling Association. Their guidelines limit all abstracts to a maximum of 150 words total. This has been modified to fit those standards. After the defense meeting and all revisions are made, this will be submitted to that journal. All committee members will receive their names listed as authors for this journal article submission. Any needed edits based on the journal reviewers will be made by the student/primary author. Crisis intervention team (CIT) training has been proven to be effective at increasing officers' knowledge of mental health, improving attitudes towards those with a mental illness, and reducing use of force rates and arrest leading to incarceration of mental health consumers. Prior research has been primarily limited to outcome evaluations of CIT programs. The current study examines officer level variables identified in the literature that may affect verbal de-escalation skills attainment in the "Memphis Model" of crisis intervention training. This was accomplished through the use of a hierarchal regression analysis. Results of the study found that officers who identified as male and White scored higher on the De-escalation Skills Scale than their respective counterparts. This finding suggests that these populations may be more effective at learning to use verbal de-escalation skills with mental health consumers.