Evaluation of The Art of Living Basic
Course as the Anti-stress Programfor Police Officers in the Slovenian Police
insure safety and health at work. In autumn of this year, thefirst presentation of the anti-stress program was organised incooperation with the Institute for Strengthening of Human
Values in LjubljanaA1. The program took place at the Ministryof Internal Affairs and at the Police Administration Ljubljana.
In the years to follow, 12 anti-stress programs and one
advanced course have been organised. The aim of the research
was to get an answer to the question, whether the contents
and the scope of the program are appropriate for police officers.

Hedviko Višnikar
Gorazd Meško
Ministry for Internal Affairs ofRepublic of Slovenia,

Abstract

2 Influence of stress on performance at work.

The antistress program is one of the recent measures with the
purpose to introduce a prevention model of psycho-hygienic
activities in the Slovenian police, started in 1998. For theevaluation of its implementation and contents, the authors
elaborated a questionaire and interviewed the program
participants. They evaluated the appropriacy of its contents,
implementation and usefulness for the work of a police officer.
The majority of participants answered the questions, theyevaluated very positively the contents of the program, its
usefulness at police work and its implementation , where theparticipants took an active part and thus acquired direct
experiences. Based on very favourable group estimation of
the participants of the implementation of the program, theauthors estimate that this form of antistress training is a morethan acceptable component of the psycho-higienic activity in
the Slovenian police.

The action of human brains is subjected to a unique dynamics.
We are not aware of the present moment and our thoughts areconstantly engaged in the past or the future. We often regret
our acts in the past and are worried about the future. Only
thinking about what is going on in our personal or career
lives can burden us and cause stress. Most of people do noteven recognise the first signs of stress. Stress can be felt as
discomfort, anxiety, which gradually becomes pain and cancause serious illnesses. How to fight these everyday problems?
How to diminish the influence of stress and preserve health?
How to avoid daily loads and live happily with all that wehave? And at the same time how to take responsibility for ourwork, family, friends and ourselves? These are the questions
that we often forget and become aware of them only when weare in a deep crisis, when we get ill or maybe start looking for
inner peace. Inner peace and stress are in this way fatallyconnected. They are two poles that are at the same time
opposite and supplementary. Without stress it is more difficult
to realise inner peace, without inner peace we could not know
stress.

Keywords: Stress, Distress, Eustress Antistress program,
Preventive psycho-hygienic model, Stressors, Breathing
techniques, Meditation, Self-realisation.

1 Introduction

Different authors explain stress in different ways. H. Selye
was the first to define stress 8 as a non-specific reaction of theorganism as a stereotype adaptive biological phylogenetic
protective mechanism, which responds to different demands
and influences of the environment. Stress can be described as
an experience of psychosocial nature, which causes psychicalsuffering and unpleasant physiological processes threatening
the organism 9. Stotland defined stress simply as a person’s
overload in a certain situation8. Overload is caused by different
factors, so-called stressors (physical, biological, psychological,
social, etc.).

Changed social relations, increasingly critical attitude ofgeneral public towards the police, the increase of serious formsof crime 1 as well as constant organisational changes influence
negatively the work of police officers in Slovenia. The majorityof the employees in the police are left to themselves when it
comes to solving their everyday work problems, problems athome or in their living environment. Stressful situations
influence their well-being, interpersonal relations and health.
Stress contributes to higher rate of absence from work, andthis in return increases the work load of other employees, which
increases the labour costs 2. This is one of the reasons why it isessential to do more for the well-being and health of police
officers. This is among others confirmed also by the findingsof the research by Seli and Umek 3, where the authors establishthat antistress programs and activities are an irreplaceable
element of the preventive psycho-hygienic model4,5,6,7.

The environment influence man on the physical,
psychological, biological and social levels and has positive
as well as negative consequences, and these are difficult tosummarise by a short definition. The fact is that the same
impacts from the environment can influence different people
in the same time differently. In the same way, also the same
impacts from the environment influence the same people indifferent time differently. 10. Generally, the term stress denotes
an event or several events which influence people negatively.

The Department for safety and health at work in the police
gave an initiative, based on the findings of the above mentioned
research, to carry out an antistress program. In 1998, the“Training of the employees to cope with stressful situations atwork” was placed among the priority tasks of the strategy to

Stressful events influence the behaviour of individuals, bring64

up anger, aggression, grief, restlessness – these emotions
extend then into the working environment of this person. For
this reason stressful events are a problem for society as well
as for the police. Police officers who are under stress are
overburdened, which makes it more difficult for them to focus
at work. Illnesses which appear as the consequence of stressdemand treatments and thus absence from work. This, on theother hand, means additional overload for other workers andthus also larger labour costs 2.

group talk, later on by personal meeting with an employee
who had similar experience and is trained to help, and thencooperation of family, assistance of managerial personnel andsome other methods. They believe that this intervention method
can be effective also in other police organisations 14.

3. 1 Antistress Program For Police Officers
The implementation of anti-stress programs for police officers
in Slovenia is a preventive model intended for the police officers
in all positions. It is executed as a special program thatapproaches the participants from several viewpoints, suchas:

3 Antistress Programs
All police forces in the world are facing the consequences ofstress that the police officers are exposed to in line of duty, butthey treat the consequences of such stressful events withdifferent degree of seriousness. Accordingly, individual police
organisations approach the solving of stressful situations or
training of police officers differently. In New York, theDepartment for the Support of Equality within NYPD, activein the framework of the Manhattan Association of
Psychotherapists, trained a group of voluntary police officials
who help their colleagues in coping with stressful situations.
The volunteers were selected through a preliminary testing of
their adequacy and their readiness to invest time and effort tohelp others in stressful situations. After an 80-hour intensive
program the volunteers are qualified to help their colleagues.
Also, the whole time they are assisted by the Association of
Psychotherapists 11. In Los Angeles the Sherrif’s Office
approached the program of training in the field of stressprevention and early intervention in the case of police stress,
intended For the supervisory and management personnel. The
program renders it possible to recognise stress and treat suchproblems with the assistance of psychologists12. In GreatBritain, the stress of police officers and managerial staff,
emerging during the work time and in connection with workthat needs to be done, is alarming 13. A research on the police
stress in the area of England and Wales estimates that fromone million of lost days for sickness leave as much as 25% canbe ascribed to stress in working environment, such as workoverload, lack of personnel, transfers and organisationalchanges. The authors establish that more attention needs tobe paid to the question of stress, as it is the question ofindividual’s health and job, and to approach the solution ofthis problem. They believe that police could use suchtechniques to prevent and diminish stress as are being usedin other organisations, such as raising the awareness of thecauses of stress and consulting for diminishing theconsequences of stress. The present situation should be
addressed by a long-term insurance of adequate financial
means, research, a strategic plan in several phases and by
responding to special needs in the police, such as in the caseof posttraumatic stress disturbances - PTSD 2. FBI developed
the program CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management) forthe protection and development of psychical condition ofworkers after traumatic events, such as bomb raids,
negotiations, loss of a partner in action and similar situations.
Thus, their employees now have, beside physical training forsurvival, also the tools that help them survive after shocking
events. The program offers immediate as well as long-term
assistance. Immediate help is offered to employees who facestressful situations already several hours after the event in
the form of a talk. After several days this is followed by a

• Self-realisation on the physical as well as spiritual level• Application of different breathing and relaxation techniques• Realisation of different possibilities for healthier way of live,
spending free time and diet.
The contents of the antistress program for police officers are
adapted to the nature of police work, where the working andliving environment is also taken into account. The program isbased on cooperation and the participants learn about:• breathing techniques which calm down, relax in thepsychical and physical sense and increase the resistance ofbody, which improves the psychical and physical health;• breathing techniques which increase the lungs capacity,
deepen the breathing, accelerate the elimination of toxins fromthe body and improve the blood circulation;• special physical exercise with breathing which improves
beside flexibility also the power to focus and balance theemotions; 1During the training the participants are also introduced to:• the processes of self-realisation which contribute to clearer
actions of mind, emotions and memory;• lead meditations which enable deeper rest, raise the energy
and accelerate relaxation;• special thematic complexes, such as:• perception of stress;• reflection of stress in the physical body;• the ways to influence the decrease of stress;• the importance of inner harmony and success of actions
that are executed in the state of focus;• the importance of breathing as a means of achieving inner
peace, appeasing emotions and focusing the mind;• the importance of breathing as a means of raising energy;• the importance of appropriate diet;• the importance of appropriate physical activity;• the importance of taking responsibility at work, at home
and in the social environment;• the meaning of happiness and obstacles in reachinghappiness;• tolerance and accepting diversity;• causal relationship between action and reaction in everyday
life;
65

cooperation with High Police Security School and the Institutefor Strengthening of Human Values a questionnaire with 19questions, with the purpose of acquiring the answer about
the adequacy of the antistress program. It included questions
about the participants’ opinion on the antistress program,whether they believed that such training was necessary andhow they evaluated it. The first part of the questionnaire wasintended to acquiring the data on age, years of work, genderand place of work on the local, regional and national level ofpolice organisation. Then followed questions on the evaluationof the antistress program, the use of knowledge after the course,
the evaluation of the program contents, implementation of the
program, usefulness of the program for other employees in
the police and the adequacy considering the time and place.
The last group of questions was intended to learn about thesensations of the participants when they use the knowledge
and techniques. In the end of the questionnaire theparticipants were asked to give their comments, suggestions
and advice regarding the organisation as well as theimplementation of the program. The questionnaire was sent
to the participants in September 1999.

•the ways of realising inner potentials.
Considering the fact that the participants take an active partin the program, the contents of the program are adapted toeach group, but at the same time they deal with those problems
which are the main reason for stressful situations.

3. 2 The Importance Of Antistress Program For
The Work Of Police Officers
In their line of duty police officers most often meet people withdifferent problems, those who are victims of others and withperpetrators of different deviate actions. When investigating
criminal acts, they meet victims and perpetrators of criminal
acts, and in the field of traffic they meet violators of regulations
on safety of traffic, they deal with traffic accidents with injured
or casualties. The police officers who guard the national border
are most often faced with persons who want to cross thenational border illegally and those who organise illegaltransits. With all these events and tasks the police officers
must respect the law, must act professionally, withresponsibility, reliability, independently, must be
communicative, respectful and show humanity in theprocedures. All these tasks and the specific character ofindividual events expose the police officers to various typesof pressure which cause stress. Stress then causes suchconditions as fatigue, irritability, impatience, anger, sarcasm,
brutality, lack of focus, etc. These conditions in the procedureswith citizens often lead to conflict situations and in the worst
case to unfounded use of force and consequently to grievances.

4. 1 Presentation Of Participants, The Process Of
Investigation And Used Statistic Methods
116 participants from the national, regional and local level ofthe police organisation and the Transition Home for foreignersof the Republic of Slovenia took part at the program: 61
participants from the national, 30 from the regional and 25
from the local level. The age of the participants was between
21 and 52 years, there were 24 women and 92 men. Police
officers of different levels of responsibility in their police work
took part at the program (police officers, duty officers,
commanders, inspectors of police administrations, directorsof police administrations and inspections and managers ofinternal organisational units of the general police
administration).

In order to avoid conflict situations and grievances in thepolice as much as possible, police officers need to beadequately trained for their area of work. A part of knowledge
the police officer can also acquire in the anti-stress program
where they learn to sense stress, experience it, about poststress situation and using adequate techniques to diminish
the negative effects of stress.

From 116 sent questionnaires, in autumn 1996 the Sector for
Health Security and Safety of Work received 65 (56%) filled-inquestionnaires. The age of the respondents was between 25
and 52 years, and on average 38.2 years. The average work
time in years was 15.8 years. The longest work time was 35
years and one participant had no work time.

4 Research Of Opinions On The Implementation
Of Antistress Programs
From October 1998 to June 1999, six antistress programs forpolice officers were carried out. All anti-stress programs were
weekend courses in the Training Centre Gotenica, as theparticipants needed peace for the implementation of the
program. The program was carried out as a workshop. With
the program the participants learned on their own
experiences:

14 (21.5%) women and 51 (78.5%) men, employed on different
levels (Table 1), returned the questionnaires :Table 1: Level of employment• how to sense stress;

Level

f

%

• how to react when a stressful situation is expected;

Local level15

23.1 %• what to do when facing a stressful event when alreadystressed out;

Regional level18

27.7 %

National level31

47.7 %• how to alleviate and gradually remove the consequences ofstress after a certain event.

Unknown1

1.5%

Beside the breathing techniques, meditation and several othertechniques which are part of us and we do them automaticallyas a defence mechanism, the participants learned to get toknow themselves and the possible ways how to handle
stressful situations.

The obtained data were analysed using the statistic program
SPSS for Windows, where the method of frequency distribution,
the method of arithmetic mean and deviation, the method offactor analysis, and the method of the interval of trust with
95% level of confidence were used.

The Sector for Health Security and Safety at Work prepared in

4. 2 Answers Of The Respondents
66

Other (state);

The participants evaluated the antistress program on the scalefrom 1 to 5. More than one half (56.9%) evaluated the programas very good, a good third (38.5%) of the participants evaluatedthe program as good, two participants (3.1%) could not decideand only 1 participant evaluated the program as poor (Figure
1).

EVALUATION

V ery good
25

Cannotdecide

2

Poor

1

V ery poor0
0

10

20

30

40

THE NUM BER O F A NSW ERS

The participants who finished the anti-stress program canmeet every two weeks in the Special Unit in the evening hours,
where they renew the acquired knowledge and do sometechniques. Because of the distance from their homes, somecannot participate at these meetings. For this reason we asked
them if they would take part at these meetings if they wereorganised closer to their homes. The answers show that only
4 participants (6.2 %) would not come to such meetings, butothers would. Out of them, 12 (18.5%) would come to suchmeetings very frequently.

Figure 1 : Evaluation of the antistress program
The majority of the participants answered to the question, if
they were using the knowledge they received in antistressprogram, with yes, almost 8% answered that they did not use
the knowledge. The participants use individual parts ofknowledge with different frequency (Table 2).
Table 2 : Frequency of use
stretching with Uijayi breathing three-level breathing
bellows
healing breath other knowledge
1

5

4

1

6

several times a week

10

6

10

7

1

at least once a week

8

10

10

3

3

several times a month

5

7

5

13

1

at least once a month

2

3

2

5

1

when I feel the need
11

12

7

7

6

The participants answered the question, whether they would
recommend the participation at the anti-stress program to otherco-workers on the scale from 1 to 7 with the average grade 6.4(Figure 2). As many as 84.6 % of the respondents answeredwith the grade 6 or more.

2

The majority of the participants (13) do the technique of
healing breath several times a month, 12 participants do thetechnique Uijayi, when they feel the need, and 11 participants
use other knowledge when they feel the need. Table 3 showsthat some participants do individual techniques regularly in
different time periods, and some participants use theknowledge only when they feel the need.

Did not answer the question.
19
When I need the acquired knowledge,
I do not remember it.
12
I do not feel the need to use
the acquired knowledge.

18.5

I forget how to do the techniques 8

12.3

2

0
20
0
NOT AT ALL

1
10

20

30

40

50

The contents of the anti-stress program include breathing
techniques, recognising stress at the physical level, releasingstress, self-realisation in different situations and getting toknow the source of the contents of knowledge. The contents ofthe program were evaluated by the participants with theaverage grade of 6.05. Almost 70% of the evaluated thecontents of the program with 6 or more and only one
participant (1.5%) thought that the contents were
inappropriate (Figure 3).

29.2

7.7

4

Figure 2: Recommendations to others participants

%

5

7

NUM BER OF ANSW ERS

Table 3: The main reason for not using the knowledge theyreceived at the program
f

14

6

0

The participants stated different reasons why they do not use
the knowledge they received at the program (Table 3). Someparticipants who use the knowledge also answered thequestions, but only in a few cases.

ANSWER

39

VERY

EVALUATION

every day32

Less than a third of the respondents stated other reasons why
they did not use the knowledge, acquired at the program. Thus,
three participants answered that they used also some othertypes of relaxation; two participants answered that sometechniques were easier and more efficient to do in a group; asmuch as ten participants replied that they used the knowledge
less frequently because they did not find time. One participant
expressed opinion that the contents of the program and its
positive effects would need better explanation. Fiveparticipants responded that they used the acquired knowledge
when they felt the need; one participant stated that he found
the reason for not using the knowledge in the fact that he did
not ask it from himself; one of the participant stated that it
would be necessary to repeat the techniques for 1 day every 3months. One of them proposed to find a program that otherpolice forces in Europe used.

37

G ood

21

67

VERY APPROPRIATE

5 or more (Figure 6).

30
2
15

EVALUATION

6

21

VERY

12

1
1

EVALUATION

1
20
0
NOT AT ALL

6
3

10

15

20

25

30

35

1
2

1

5

14

5

1
0

17

6

4

4

0
1
1

0 (DID NOT ANS WER)

THE NUM BER OF RESPONSES

0

5

10

15

20

25

NU M BER O F AN SW ER S

Figure 3: Evaluation of the contents of the program
The antistress program was held by a foreign teacher, which
is why we aimed to find out the evaluation of the teacher inthe program. The participants evaluated the implementationof the program with the average grade of 6.3. 86.2% of the
respondents evaluated the program with the grade 6 or more
(Figure 4).
VERY APPROPRIATE

Stress influences the emotional state and health of a person.
By using specific techniques we can influence stress andprotect ourselves against unexpected stressful events. We canuse these techniques already when stressful situations appear,
or we can use them after stressful situations and thus influence
our well-being and health. We asked the respondents whether
they believed that the use of techniques influenced their health.
They evaluated the influence of techniques on their healthwith the average grade 4.55 (Figure 7)

34

6,5

2

6
EVALUATION

Figure 6: Evaluation of relaxation after the techniques

20

5

5

4

3
VERY

30
20

20

EVALUATION

510VERY POOR

15
6

6

1
0

10

20

30

40

13

4
3

5

2

0

1

0

NUM BER OF ANSW ERSNO T AT ALL

2

NO ANSW ER

Figure 4: Evaluation of the implementation of the program

18

EVALUATION

6
2
2

0
1

NOT AT ALL
0

5

10

15

20

20

25

Six participants thought that the antistress program was goodor they have no comments. Others suggested that the stretching
exercises should be performed in the morning; two suggested
more movement; two participants thought that also the bosses
should take part at the course; three participants suggested
that they should be introduced to the contents of the course
and the eastern spiritual tradition in more detail; threeparticipants suggested an advanced course; two suggested
revision of the course; one suggested that as many police
officers as possible should take part at the course and that
this form of training should also be organised in police
administrations or closer to where they live.

14

2

15

At the end of the questionnaire the participants were asked togive their suggestions how to improve the program. They wereas follows:

20

4

10

Figure 7: Evaluation of the influence of techniques on health265NUM BER O F ANSW ERSWith the knowledge about what stress is, how it manifests
and with simple techniques they learn the participants get atool with which they can help themselves in stressful
situations. To the question, whether the use of knowledge theyreceived at the anti-stress program, can reduce stress, theparticipants answered with the average grade of 5.63 (Figure
5).
VERY

4
0

25

NUM BER OF ANSW ERS

4. 3 Interpretation Of The Results
Figure 5: Opinion on the reduction of stress by using theknowledge obtained at the antistress program

The participants evaluated the antistress program on the scalefrom 1 to 5, where 1 is very good and 5 very poor. The average
grade was 1.49 and standard deviation 0.64. The evaluation
was thus between very good and good. The reason is in simple
but effective and tested techniques for stress reduction thatare available to those who finish such training. The authors

To the question, if they felt more relaxed after executing thetechniques they learned at the anti-stress program, theparticipants replied with the average grade 5.6. As much as
83% of the respondents answered this question with the grade
68wanted the research to confirm the results of the evaluation of
the antistress program and to discover the reasons for such
good or bad evaluation with additional questions that refer tothe contents, implementation and recommendation of theantistress program to other participants. The answers to thesequestions undoubtedly confirm the very good evaluation of
the antistress program, as all these three questions were
evaluated with the average grade of over 6. Considering theresults, the authors believe that the implementation of the
programs was at an appropriate level, the contents wereadapted to the needs of police officers and appropriate for the
training in the field of preventive psycho-hygienic model. The
stated results influenced also the recommendations to coworkers to take part at the anti-stress program. The police
officers responded to the recommendations with theirapplications that exceeded, according to the data by Police
Academy, the available places for the training in one group by
several times. At the end of the program all participants were
given instructions how to execute individual techniques athome. It depends on each individual, their needs, inclinations
and possibilities, which techniques they use and how often.
According to the results, most of the participants use theacquired knowledge. Only 5 participants out of 65
respondents answered that they did not use the acquired
knowledge. The results show that the participants are awarethat they are exposed to everyday stressful situations, thatthey recognise stress and know that they need to do something
for their well-being and health and to use the techniques which
reduce everyday tensions. There are several reasons why they
do not use the acquired knowledge, but most often it is lack oftime. The participants believe that Gotenica is appropriate forthe implementation of such programs, since it is a quiet setting,the organisation is good, the team are friendly and theaccommodation and diet are good. The time of the seminar
was evaluated slightly worse. The reason for this wasprobably the fact that the participants of the first two groups
took part at the seminar in their spare time and the seminar
ended Monday evening. The participants answered with theaverage grade 5.63 and standard deviation 1.39 to thequestion, if the use of the acquired knowledge at the antistressprogram reduced stress. This grade is similar to the one forthe next question, if the participants felt more relaxed after thetechniques. They graded this question also with the average
grade 5.6 and standard deviation 1.53. Similar is also theredistribution. The results of the questionnaire let us conclude
that approximately one third of the participants believe thatthe use of the techniques they learned at the antistress programsignificantly influences their health. The authors assume that
only those could notice this, who continued with the use thetechniques and the acquired knowledge also after the antistress program at home.

evaluation of contents.815

recommendation to others.782

Factor analysis of the questionnaire excluded three factors(Table 4):

Literatureevaluation of influence on health.641

1

use of knowledge.842

sense of relaxation

.829

2

.572

evaluation of place of event.528

evaluation of implementation.524

bellows.668

need to use the techniques.668

once a week.614

three-level breathing.569

use of other knowledge.640

use of knowledge several times a week.618
use of techniques.590

The first factor consists of variables which relate to theevaluation of the seminar, i.e.: use of knowledge, sense ofrelaxation, evaluation of contents, recommendation to others,
evaluation of influence on health, evaluation of time of event,evaluation of place of event and the evaluation of
implementation. The first factor could be called evaluation ofanti-stress program. The second consists of variables relating
to the breathing techniques used at the anti-stress program,i.e.: three-level breathing, bellows, healing breath and the need
to use the techniques. The second factor could be called
usefulness of breathing techniques. The third factor consistsof variables relating to the use of knowledge, i.e.: use of otherknowledge, use of knowledge several times a week and use oftechniques. The third factor could be called use of knowledge
and techniques in time.

5 Conclusion
After 6 anti-stress programs we designed a questionnaire withwhich we wanted to find out and intended to measure some
opinions of the participants. The results of the questionnaire
showed that a high percentage of the participants at theantistress program recommend the participation at the
program also to their colleagues. The evaluations of thecontents of the program, its implementation and practical use
to reduce stress were very positive and confirm the need forsuch training. This is also a good enough reason to continue
such training in the police and at the same time a motive forthe organisers. By the autumn of 2002, 15 basic and one
advanced course were executed, and altogether 327 employeesof the police participated at them. The findings of the studies
on the causes and consequences of stress show that people
should be trained to become aware of stressful situations andto take adequate measures, in order reduce health hazard.
1.
Meško, G. Obutki ogro•enosti, strah predkriminaliteto in policijsko preventivno delo. Varstvoslovje;
1999. p. 30-34.

Table 4 : Factor analysis
VARIABLE:

evaluation of time of event

2.
Brown, J. Stres in višji policijski mened•erji v Veliki
Britaniji: Preuevanje in primerjalni vidiki policijske dejavnosti v
svetu. Ljubljana: Visoka policijsko-varnostna šola; 1998 . p.
140-151).

4

69

Sciences (Peace Sciences), at the Faculty of Education(Department of Social Education) at the University of Ljubljana
and at the Faculty of Criminalistics, University of Sarajevo,
Bosnia and Herzegovina. His research activity is connectedwith the problems of the prevention of crime, fear of crime andcreating the image of social problems.

3. Seli,P. & Umek, P.. Psihohigienska dejavnost - nujna skrb
za policiste. V. Policija na prehodu v 21 stoletje ; 1993. p.88-106.
4.
Seli, P Poravnavanje s stresom (coping). V: Zbornik
strokovno znanstvenih razprav. Ljubljana. Višja šola za notranje
zadeve; 1994. p. 200-222.
5.
Seli,P. & Umek, P.. Dejavniki zadovoljstva pri delu vorganih za notranje zadeve.Revija Policija, 1-2; 1994. p. 31-46.

E-mail : gorazd.mesko@vpvs.uni-lj.si

A1- Appendix 1

6.
Seli,P. Stres pri delu policistov na severni meji. Revija
Policija, 3-4; 1994. p. 130-150.

Institute for Strengthening of Human Values is part of theinternational organisation Art of Living Foundation (AOL), a
non-profitable organisation which carries out antistressprograms and self-realisation programs in more than 100
countries of the world. AOL is a non-government organisation(NGO) at ECO SOC United Nations Organisation and isofficial consultant for the World Health Organisation WHO.
Its founder is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a spiritual teacher, who
adapted his knowledge and wisdom at workshops to the needsof a modern man. In Slovenia the program for convicts wasorganised and financed by the Institute for Strengthening of
Human Values. For the prison employees at the Ministry ofJustice the antistress program was financed by the European
Community (PHARE).

7.
Seli,P. & Umek, P. Analiza stresnih dejavnikov v
policiji in prepreevanje njihovega vplivanja: Dan raziskovalne
enote. Ljubljana: Višja šola za notranje zadeve; 1994. p. 35-41.
8.
Umek, P. Stres v policiji. V: Zbornik strokovno
znanstvenih razprav. Ljubljana: Višja šola za notranje zadeve;
1991. p. 72-87.
9.
Seli, P. Psihologija bolezni našega asa. Ljubljana:
Znanstveno in publicistinosredie; 1999.
10.
Hallenberger, F. Polizeiliche Beanspruchung:Ein
Plaedoyer fuer polizeiliche Supervision. Die Polizei, 5; 1998.
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Hedviko Visnikar, a graduate in the organisation of work –Information Scientist, Higher Inspector – Vice-Secretary in the
General Police Administration, Department for the Police
Control.
After the primary school he finished the cadet school for police
officers in 1975 and started to work as a police intern at the
Police Station Litija. Then he was promoted to the leader ofthe district security in 1986, he started his studies at the Higher
School for Internal Affairs. In 1988 he graduated with thedefence of the diploma thesis in the field of the use of program
package DW3 in police stations. He worked as an assistantand deputy commander at the same police station. In 1992 hestarted to work in the then police administration in the field ofwork organisation and personnel department and then in the
personnel department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs as
the leader of the sector for organisation and information
science. In 1995, along with performing his work, he
graduated at the Faculty of Organisational Sciences Kranj,
study orientation Information Science.
E-mail : Hedviko.Visnikar@policija.si
Gorazd Mesko is a Doctor of Social-Educational Sciences,
Associate Professor for criminology, head of the Research Unit
and Chair for Criminalistics at the High Police-Security Schoolin Ljubljana. Dr. Meško is a teacher at the Faculty of Social
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