The physical competence test of the Dutch National Police: The effects of wearing a police uniform on test performance |
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Authors: | Matthijs Koedijk Hessel F Stuurman Peter G Renden RI Hutter Marian Strating Ra?ul R D Oudejans |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Human Movement Sciences, Amsterdam Movement Sciences and Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands;2. Academic Center of Behavioral and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands m.koedijk@vu.nl;4. Department of Human Movement Sciences, Amsterdam Movement Sciences and Institute for Brain and Behavior Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands;5. Academic Center of Behavioral and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam , Amsterdam, The Netherlands;6. Faculty of Health, Nutrition and Sport, The Hague University of Applied Sciences , The Hague, The Netherlands;7. Faculty of Sports and Nutrition, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences , Amsterdam, The Netherlands https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3583-9362;8. Dutch Police, Vitality Program , Rotterdam, The Netherlands;9. Faculty of Sports and Nutrition, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences , Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACT In this study, we investigated the effects of wearing a police uniform and gear on officers’ performance during the Physical Competence Test (PCT) of the Dutch National Police. In a counterbalanced within-subjects design, twenty-seven police officers performed the PCT twice, once wearing sportswear and once wearing a police uniform. The results showed clear indications that wearing a police uniform influenced the performance on the PCT. Participants were on average 14 seconds slower in a police uniform than in sportswear. Furthermore, performing the test in uniform was accompanied by higher RPE-scores and total physiological load. It seems that wearing a police uniform during the test diminishes the discrepancy between physical fitness needed to pass the simulated police tasks in the PCT and the job-specific physical fitness that is required during daily police work. This suggests that wearing a police uniform during the test will increase the representativeness of the testing environment for the work field. |
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Keywords: | Police uniform physical fitness representative testing test performance job-specificity |
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