Psychological Flow through the Lens of Philippine National Police Personnel

This research explored the lived experiences of non-criminology graduate PNP personnel of Tanauan Component City Police Station who were licensed professionals in different fields but fully functioned as law enforcers whose main task was to deal with police operations. They were the focus of this research undertaking because they were the individuals who might have experienced the challenges of attaining psychological flow due to the possible challenge-skill imbalance. This study employed a qualitative research design, utilizing phenomenology to explore the experiences of ten (10) non-criminology graduate PNP personnel. Researcher-made guide questions were used in this study and was constructed based on the Theory of Flow and Vocational Choice Theory. The instrument gained content validity ratio (CVR) of 1.00 and content validity index (CVI) of 1.00 which represented the agreement in the instrument. Utilizing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the study generated ten (10) themes which were: Family Influence and Personal Motivations; Personal Meaning and Public Service in Law Enforcement; Challenging and Organized Work Environment; Personal Growth, Career Alignment and Adaptation; Applying Learned Skills and Developing New Competencies in Law Enforcement; Lifelong Learning and Goals; Immersion in Service through Passion, Fulfillment and Resilience; Intrinsic Fulfillment Through Service, Respect, and Meaningful Connections; Building Confidence through Experience, Learning and Purpose; and Driven by Passion, Engagement and Helping Others. The study created an understanding of importance of psychological flow in the performance of duty of the law enforcers. It highlighted the findings that benefit each police officers specially those who graduated different course other the criminology. By amplifying the voices of this demographic group, it called for a reassessment of existing programs that will cultivate the skills present to the non-criminology graduate police officers.