Fitness for duty evaluations: An exploratory study of psychologists' decision-making and an examination of gender bias in fitness for duty decisions.

摘要

Fitness for duty evaluations (FFDEs) increasingly are utilized to assess employees who exhibit problematic work performance. The recommendations that result impact the employee's career and livelihood and may have a larger impact on community safety and societal perceptions of the employing agency. The specific focus of this research is on FFDEs in law enforcement. An original survey was developed to gather data to study the practices of psychologists when conducting FFDEs. The instrument is a self-administered, self-report questionnaire consisting of structured questions with multiple-choice and Likert-type responses and includes two vignette questions. The Likert-type questions solicited responses regarding the frequency and importance of factors individual to the officer evaluated and to embeddedness factors which are factors related to the work culture and environment of the organization in which the officer serves. The 38 items were divided into eight scales and represented three categories: maladaptive coping strategies, individual stress, or embeddedness. In the vignette portion of the survey researching gender bias, respondents were randomly assigned to receive either male-gendered or female-gendered vignettes. After reading each vignette, respondents were asked to give a percentage rating of the likelihood the officer would be found unfit for duty. Results of a reliability analysis indicated that the eight scales had very good to excellent internal consistency. ANOVA analysis results confirmed that factors related to maladaptive coping were relied upon at a more significant level than individual stress factors or embeddedness factors. Regarding gender bias, basic mean results were higher for likely percentage for female officers to be found unfit for duty than male officers; however, ANOVA analysis did not find the differences in mean results statistically significant. Ultimately, the aim of research endeavored to contribute to the understanding of the construct of fitness for duty in law enforcement, how gender may mediate fitness for duty results, and to suggest areas of future applicable research.;Key words: Fitness for duty evaluations, law enforcement, gender bias