Understanding the decision-making process of police officers when responding to mental health calls is essential for optimizing the training they receive to engage with persons with a mental illness (PMI) and/or persons experiencing a mental health crisis. Research on officer decision-making in mental health contexts is lacking, and police officers’ subjective experience of this response is rarely represented. Using a qualitative approach, the current study aimed to provide a description of the decision-making processes of police officers responding to mental health calls, including decisions to appraise the situation as a mental health call and an enhanced understanding of the ways in which current mental health education and training influences police officer decision-making. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 30 police officers from two municipal police forces in Atlantic Canada. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Four overarching themes were conceptualized and connected to describe the decision-making process. These themes focus on the initial information from dispatch that officers consider, participants’ on-scene observational cognitions, external dynamics that constrain decision-making, and how experience drives response rather than training due to insufficiency in the latter. Findings from this study contribute insight into the unique experience of police officers, which is essential for improving the education and training officers receive and, ultimately, enhancing client outcomes.

了解警察在响应心理健康电话时的决策过程对于优化他们接受的与精神疾病患者 (PMI) 和/或经历心理健康危机的人打交道的培训至关重要。缺乏对警察在心理健康背景下决策的研究，而且警察对此反应的主观体验也很少得到体现。本研究采用定性方法，旨在描述警察响应心理健康呼叫的决策过程，包括将情况评估为心理健康呼叫的决定，以及加深对当前心理健康呼叫方式的理解。健康教育和培训影响警官的决策。数据是通过对加拿大大西洋地区两个市警察部队的 30 名警官进行半结构化访谈收集的。使用主题分析对访谈进行转录和分析。四个总体主题被概念化并联系起来以描述决策过程。这些主题侧重于官员考虑的来自调度的初始信息、参与者的现场观察认知、限制决策的外部动态，以及经验如何驱动响应而不是由于培训不足而驱动响应。这项研究的结果有助于深入了解警官的独特经历，这对于改善警官接受的教育和培训并最终提高客户成果至关重要。