استرس در نيروي پليس: مطالعه منشاء، شيوع و شدت نشانه هاي وابسته به استرس در نيروي پليس محلي

Stress In Police Officers: A Study Of The Ori¬gins, Prevalence And Severity Of Stress- Relared Symptoms Within A County Police Force

High levels of stress- related illneess are causing concern across in¬dustry. Against a background of impenending legislative to try to improve this situation, there is a need to identify key work- related stressors, police work tends to be regarded as inherently stressful because of the personal risk of exposure to confrontation and violence and day-to- day involvement in a variety of traumatic incidents, as a result, high levels of stress- releted symptoms might be expected in this population. Objective: To examine the sources of stress- related symptoms within po¬lice officers and measure the prevalence of significant associaated mental ill- health. Method: A cross- sectional guestionnaire survey of a population of 1206 po¬lice officres was performed to assess levels of strain associated with a series of potential time and work related stressors. Participants were then split into low and high scoring groups on the basis of a general health questionnaire (GHQ)threshold score in order to identify those stressors most associated with mental ill- health effects. Results: Occupational stressors ranking most highly within the population were not specific to policing, but to organizational issues such as the de- mends of work impinging upon home life of consultation and communic- tion, lack of control over workload, inadequate support and excess workload in general, the high scoring group constituted 41% of the population and differd significantly from those with low scores in perception of all stressors, ranking both personal and occupational stressors more highly, and from per¬sonality constraints appeaed significantly more , stress- prone. A signficant association between gender and mental ill- health was found, with females more likely to score more highly on the (GHQ) than males. Conclusion: This study confirms previous findings of organizational culture and woekload as the key issues in officer stress. Given that the degree of symtomatology appears to be worsening management action is reguired. Further research is indicated within the police population into a possible in¬creased susceptibility in female officers. * key words: Mental Health, occupation, police, shifts, stress, workload