research paper on police stress

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Police stressors and health: a state-of-the-art review

John m. violanti.

The State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA,

Luenda E. Charles

Health Effects Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA

Erin McCanlies

Tara a. hartley, penelope baughman, michael e. andrew, desta fekedulegn, claudia c. ma, anna mnatsakanova, cecil m. burchfiel, purpose –.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a state-of-the-art review on the topic of police stressors and associated health outcomes. Recent empirical research is reviewed in the areas of workplace stress, shift work, traumatic stress, and health. The authors provide a comprehensive table outlining occupational exposures and related health effects in police officers.

Design/methodology/approach –

A review of recent empirical research on police stress and untoward psychological and physiological health outcomes in police officers.

Findings –

The results offer a conceptual idea of the empirical associations between stressful workplace exposures and their impact on the mental and physical well-being of officers.

Research limitations/implications –

A key limitation observed in prior research is the cross-sectional study design; however, this serves as a motivator for researchers to explore these associations utilizing a longitudinal study design that will help determine causality.

Originality/value –

This review provides empirical evidence of both mental and physical outcomes associated with police stress and the processes involved in both. Research findings presented in this paper are based on sound psychological and medical evidence among police officers

Introduction

Approximately 806,400 sworn police officers and 17,784 agencies in the US face the formidable task of enforcing the laws of a democratic society ( www.bls.gov/ooh/protective-service/police-and-detectives.htm ). Stress permeates this task, taking a toll on the health of persons who work in this occupation ( Webster, 2014 ). This review includes searches of relevant databases (years 1990–2016) including PubMed, Scopus, Embase, ProQuest, PsycINFO, PILOTS, and Google Scholar. Articles were included if they specifically investigated associations between police work exposures and health-related outcomes.

Stress is a general rubric used to describe physiological change or impact brought about by environmental stimuli and psychological mediation ( Semmer et al. , 2004 ; Levi, 2004 ; McEwen, 1998 ; Webster, 2014 ). Stress is a biosocial process, where environmental stimuli place an undue strain on an organism ( Theorell, 2004 ). Police work involves stressful demands such as dealing with human misery, abused children, and instantaneous life or death decisions. Additionally, the burden of societal responsibility and strict legal norms are placed on officers as they deal with these demands.

The police stress environment

Sources of stress in policing may be classified into two general categories ( Shane, 2010 ): those arising from “job content” which include work schedules, shift work, long-work hours, overtime and court work, and traumatic events and threats to physical and psychological health; and those arising from “job context” also called organizational stressors, which refer to characteristics of the organization and behavior of the people that produce stress (e.g. bureaucracy and co-worker relations). These sources of stress often come with a price. Exposure to human suffering and death may also result in a negative view of life, as well as psychological effects such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ), depression, and suicide ideation ( McCanlies, Miller, Andrew, Wirth, Burchfiel, and Violanti, 2014 ; Austin-Ketch et al., 2012 ; Violanti et al. , 2009 ; Ma et al. , 2015 ). Rotating shifts often lead to inadequate sleep for officers which lowers physiological resistance to stress ( Baughman et al. , 2014 ; Bond et al. , 2013 ). Family life may be disrupted by shift work schedules, working holidays, and strained relationships ( Kirschman et al ., 2014 ; Torres et al ., 2003 ). One can add to this array of occupational exposures the recent negative public image that police face, resulting in public loss of confidence in police integrity ( President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 2015 ).

Traumatic events

Among the many stressful experiences police officers are exposed to in their line of work, exposure to traumatic events (e.g. violence, seeing dead bodies, abused children, etc.) may produce some of the highest stress levels ( Korre et al ., 2014 ). Studies have shown that exposure to stressful life events in the general population can change brain structure, resulting in decreases in gray matter volume in the bilateral anterior cingulate and the hippocampi ( Papagni et al ., 2011 ; Smith, 2005 ).

Several longitudinal studies reported significant relationships between traumatic incidents experienced at work and PTSD in police officers ( Huddleston et al ., 2007 ; Stephens and Miller, 1998 ; Maguen et al ., 2009 ) ( Table I ). Huddleston et al . (2007) found that police recruits who had experienced one or more on-duty traumatic events had mean impact of event scale scores 64 percent higher than recruits who had experienced no on-duty traumatic events. Robinson et al . (1997) found that any encounter with death was the strongest predictor for total PTSD symptomatology among US police officers. Trauma experienced on-duty as a police officer was shown to be more strongly related to PTSD symptoms than trauma experienced while off-duty ( Stephens and Miller, 1998 ). Also, in a case-control study of officers with and without PTSD symptoms, trauma severity was the only predictor of PTSD symptoms ( Carlier et al ., 1997 ).

Studies investigating stressful occupational exposures and their outcomes in police officers

Notes: Work schedules include shiftwork, long-work hours, overtime work, and second job; traumatic events include exposure to dead bodies, witnessing police suicide/homicide, violent confrontations, situations of abuse, riot control, seeing battered or dead children, serious accidents and hostages, failed resuscitation attempts, and assistance in disasters; organizational stressors include lack of supervisor and/or co-workers support, job strain, effort-reward imbalance, lack of supervisor feedback, workplace discrimination, excessive paperwork, lack of recognition, dealing with the public, and perceived stress.

Results of studies conducted in New Zealand and some European countries show that exposure to traumatic events increase the likelihood of psychological distress ( Brough, 2004 ; Brown et al ., 1999 ; Leino et al ., 2011 ; Renck et al ., 2002 ). In a cross-sectional study of Finnish police officers and security guards, Leino et al . (2011) reported positive associations between exposure to work-related violence and symptoms of psychological distress, and between threats by a deadly weapon and symptoms of distress. In Sweden, investigators found that officers who worked at the scene of a fatal fire experienced higher stress levels than those working at hospitals where the injured were taken ( Renck et al ., 2002 ). Police who were exposed to traumatic incidents have also been found to have higher levels of depression and anxiety ( Hartley et al ., 2007 ; Martin, Marchand, Boyer, Martin, 2009 ; Strahler and Ziegert, 2015 ).

Exposure to traumatic events has been associated with hyperarousal or hypervigilance ( McCaslin et al ., 2006 ; Covey et al ., 2013 ; Anderson et al ., 2002 ). The type of critical incident experienced was associated with degree of hypervigilance. McCaslin et al . (2006) found that when the critical incident was categorized as duty-related violence, officers had higher mean hyperarousal symptom scores than their colleagues whose critical incident involved exposure to civilian death. Another study reported that the highest levels of stress in law enforcement occur just prior to and during critical incidents ( Anderson et al ., 2002 ). Compared with those who did not experience a critical incident, officers who did, experienced elevated heart rates which dropped with recovery after the critical incident, although rates did not return to their previous levels. Talking to suspects after experiencing a critical incident elicited the highest heart rates (virtually double, or +23 beats per minute) above pre-incident levels, maintaining a state of hypervigilance.

Associations between traumatic events and sleep quality and quantity were examined among police officers in the Buffalo Cardio-metabolic Occupational Police Stress study ( Bond et al ., 2013 ). In men, significant associations were found for the “shooting of another officer” with sleep quality and sleep disturbances. In women, seeing more “abused children” was associated with poorer sleep quality; increasing frequency of “seeing victims of a serious traffic accident” was associated with shorter sleep duration; and increased frequency of “seeing dead bodies” was associated with both poorer sleep quality and shorter sleep duration. A significant inverse association was found between seeing seriously injured victims of traffic accidents and poor sleep quality among women with a high vs low workload. In another cross-sectional study, cumulative critical incident exposure was associated with nightmares but only weakly associated with poor sleep quality among police officers ( Neylan et al ., 2002 ).

Repeated exposure to traumatic events was shown to affect performance among police officers, depending on the type of incident ( Levy-Gigi et al ., 2016 ). Results showed that trauma-unexposed civilians performed better in low (relative to high) aversive conditions. When the authors compared performance of officers who had repeated traumatic exposure to that of unexposed civilians in conditions of low intensity, they found poorer performance among the trauma-exposed officers. When performance of the two groups in conditions of high intensity were compared, officers with repeated traumatic exposure performed better than unexposed civilians. Therefore, repeated traumatic exposure had both positive and negative consequences on police officers’ reactions to job situations.

Other than work sited in this review, few studies have been identified that investigated associations between exposure to traumatic events at work and chronic diseases (e.g. cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), mortality, etc.) in police officers. Results of studies utilizing non-law enforcement populations have shown that exposure to traumatic stress is associated with higher prevalence of CVD and eyesight degeneration ( Gallo et al ., 2014 ; Karatzias et al ., 2015 ; Walczewska et al ., 2011 ). Research on effects of traumatic events on chronic health conditions in police officers is warranted.

Symptoms of PTSD include re-experiencing trauma, avoidance, negative cognitions and mood, and arousal often manifested by aggressiveness, sleep problems, recklessness, or self-destructive behavior ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ). PTSD rates in officers have been reported to be as low as 7 percent and as high as 19 percent ( Schutte et al ., 2012 ; Violanti 2014 ). In comparison, PTSD rates in the US were approximately 8 percent ( Kessler et al ., 1995 ; American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ). Partial or subsyndromal PTSD, defined by presence of some, but not all of the PTSD symptoms were found to interfere with normal work and social functioning ( Stein et al ., 1997 ). Subsyndromal PTSD rates were as high as 34 percent in police officers, potentially compromising their day-to-day functioning as well as their health.

Individuals with PTSD symptoms, or those who report having experienced a trauma, are more likely to have conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal disorders, autoimmune disorders, and chronic pain syndromes as well as experience a number of comorbid psychological conditions, including depression, suicidal ideation, substance abuse, and social phobias ( McCanlies Miller, Andrew, Wirth, Burchfiel, and Violanti, 2014 ). It is not surprising that officers with PTSD symptoms also report reduced quality of life, poorer health, increased sick leave, more frequent medical appointments, and higher hospital admissions compared to officers without PTSD symptoms ( Maia et al ., 2007 ; Martin, Marchand, and Boyer, 2009 ). Furthermore, officers who were exposed to multiple traumatic incidents experienced more severe symptoms compared to those who reported relatively few traumatic events ( Breslau et al ., 1999 ; McCanlies Miller, Andrew, Wirth, Burchfiel, and Violanti, 2014 ).

There are unique individual factors that may influence whether an individual develops PTSD symptoms. Protective factors, such as social support, resiliency, gratitude and satisfaction with life have been shown in prior studies to be associated with fewer PTSD symptoms ( Andrew et al ., 2014 ; McCanlies, Mnatsakanova, Andrew, Burchfiel, and Violanti, 2014 ; Paton and Norris 2014 ). Conversely, exposure to prior trauma, maladaptive coping styles, and low neurocognitive abilities have been associated with increased risk of PTSD ( Marmar et al ., 2006 ; DiGangi et al ., 2013 ).

A recent web-based surveillance study on police suicide in the US was conducted involving 55,000 suicide-specific news articles ( O’Hara et al ., 2013 ). Descriptive data were obtained for 102 suicides in 2008, 104 in 2009, and 92 in 2012. The percentage of suicides among male and female officers was relatively stable across these three years. On average, 92 percent of suicides occurred among male officers and 6 percent among female officers. Using data from the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance System, there were 264 suicides among law enforcement officers in 1999, 2003–2004 and 2007 ( Violanti, Robinson, and Shen, 2013 ). This represented a significantly higher proportionate mortality ratio for suicide than expected (PMR 169, 95 percent CI = 150–191, p <0.01).

Organizational stressors and health outcomes

Organizational stressors which include the organizational setting or design (e.g. management-autonomy, flexibility, participation in decision making, etc.) may be a greater source of stress for police officers as they represent daily routines. However, they are less studied compared to operational stressors which dominate the literature. A recent study of police officers showed that two specific organizational stressors “fellow officers not doing their job” and having “inadequate or poor quality equipment” were among the top five of 60 most frequently occurring stressors ( Violanti et al ., 2016 ). A more detailed examination of the impact of operational vs organizational stressors on police performance ( Shane, 2010 ) showed that 45 percent of the variance in police performance is attributable to organizational stressors and the mean scores of organizational stressors were significantly higher compared to mean scores of operational stressors. A recent systematic review also revealed similar findings of the impact of organizational stressors on job stress and burnout ( Finney et al ., 2013 ).

Organizational stressors could lead to negative physiological and psychological responses in officers including CVD ( Goh et al ., 2015 ; Kivimäki and Kawachi, 2015 ). A meta-analysis of workplace stressors and health outcomes showed that organizational stressors, such as work-family conflict, job insecurity, high job demand, low job control, and lack of social support, were associated with poor physical health, poor mental health, and physician-diagnosed morbidity ( Goh et al ., 2015 ). The study also showed that high job demands raised the odds of having a physician-diagnosed illness by 35 percent. Another study reported that job strain increased the likelihood of CVD by 23 percent ( Kivimäki et al ., 2012 ). However, literature on associations between organizational stressors and health outcomes is limited among police officers. Understanding the impact of organizational stressors on health and performance of police officers is important as it enables policy makers to weigh the magnitude of the effect which could ultimately lead to recommendations for an intervention ( Hartley, Violanti, Sarkisian, Fekedulegn, Mnatsakanova, Andrew, and Burchfiel, 2014 ).

Few epidemiological studies have investigated associations of stress with metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) in law enforcement. Perceived stress was positively associated with prevalence of MetSyn ( Janczura et al ., 2015 ), and police work-related stress was associated with the number of MetSyn components ( Hartley et al ., 2011 ). This association has also been observed in a longitudinal study ( Garbarino and Magnavita, 2015 ). However, the significant association was not replicated in a study conducted in Iowa department of public safety officers ( Yoo et al ., 2009 ).

Work schedules

Shift work, a necessity in police work, is considered to be one of the most difficult job requirements which is associated with adverse health outcomes in police officers ( Violanti et al ., 2009 ; Zimmerman 2012 ; Ramey et al ., 2012 ). Using work history for the past month, year, and 15 years, night and evening work schedules were consistently associated with elevated prevalence of poor sleep quality ( Fekedulegn et al ., 2016 ). Undiagnosed sleep disorders may pose health and safety risks ( Barger et al ., 2009 ). One study reported several health conditions in a group of US officers that included sleep disorders, diabetes, depression, and CVD ( Rajaratnam et al ., 2011 ). Officers with sleep disorders reported making serious administrative errors, falling asleep while driving, making errors or safety violations due to fatigue, showing uncontrolled anger toward suspects, having higher rates of absenteeism, and falling asleep during meetings more frequently than police officers without a sleep disorder ( Rajaratnam et al ., 2011 ).

Night shift work among police officers was significantly associated with long-term injury ( Violanti, Fekedulegn, Andrew, Charles, Hartley, Vila, and Burchfiel, 2013 ) and elevated incidence of sick leave ( Fekedulegn et al . 2013 ). A combined field and laboratory study of police officers indicated that alertness, vigilance, and simulated driving performance were significantly diminished following five consecutive night shifts ( Waggoner et al ., 2012 ). Actual post-shift driving performance showed that officers working in the night shift performed worse than those working in the day shift ( James and Vila 2015 ). Long-term night shift work (six to eight years) was associated with decreased average level and total volume of cortisol released over the waking period compared with the afternoon and day shift ( Fekedulegn et al ., 2012 ).

Shift work is associated with risk factors for chronic disease. Officers who worked in the night shift and either had less than six hours of sleep or worked more overtime had a four-fold greater number of MetSyn components than officers working in the day shift ( Violanti et al ., 2009 ). A significant post-shift increase in systolic blood pressure (BP) was observed in female officers, and overall, BP and fatigue levels were strongly related ( Elliott and Lal, 2016 ). Frequent day/night rotations might give rise to insulin resistance and oxidative stress ( Demir et al ., 2016 ). Night shift work was associated with decreased kidney function among urban white/Hispanic officers. Stratification by body mass index (BMI) resulted in a significant association only among officers with a BMI of 25 kg/m 2 or higher ( Charles et al ., 2013 ).

Suicide ideation was more prevalent among urban policewomen with increased depressive symptoms and an increasing percentage of hours worked on the day shift, and among urban policemen with higher PTSD symptoms and an increasing percentage of afternoon shift hours ( Violanti et al ., 2008 ).

Police officers who are shift workers require a longer recovery time and sleep duration than non-shift working officers ( Garbarino, Nobili, Beelke, Balestra, Cordelli, and Ferrillo, 2002 ). Shift work tolerance has been primarily related to sleep quality followed by a need for recovery, level of fatigue, and work-life balance ( Lammers-van der Holst and Kerkhof, 2015b ). Sleep/wake complaints and subjective health in police officers in a flexible (self-determined) shift system were not different than those in a rapidly rotating shift system, but they did obtain longer rest periods between shifts and more sleep ( Eriksen and Kecklund, 2007 ). Circadian adaptation to night shift work was associated with better performance, alertness, mood, and more sleep ( Boudreau et al ., 2013 ). Adaptation was also demonstrated in increasing and later decreasing cortisol awakening response in young novice police officers between 4 and 14 months after beginning rotating shift work ( Lammers-van der Holst and Kerkhof, 2015a ) Physicians should be attentive to possible sleep disorders in shiftworking police officers and health promotion programs should attempt to reduce chronic stress ( Garbarino, De Carli, Nobili, Mascialino, Squarcia, Penco, Beelke, and Ferrillo, 2002 ; Gerber et al ., 2010 ). Fatigue management programs should include education, screening for sleep disorders, and interventions on health consequences ( Barger et al ., 2009 ).

Policing and family

Work stressors can impact not only the officer, physically and psychologically, but also those around them – co-workers, family and friends. Officers experiencing high levels of stress are more likely to disengage from family activities and have marital troubles ( Jackson and Maslach, 1982 ). Alexander and Walker (1994) found that over 40 percent of police officers reported taking out their stress on family. Burke found that factors, such as shift work, lack of support, and marital difficulties, were strongly related to increased levels of work-family conflict in police officers, and, in turn, work-family conflict was positively associated with numerous work and health outcomes ( Burke, 1988 ). Mikkelsen and Burke (2004) found that work-family conflict was higher in younger officers and those regularly engaged in shift work. Officers reporting more work-family concerns had significantly more subjective health complaints and higher suicide ideation ( Mikkelsen and Burke, 2004 ). A high percentage of police spouses reported experiencing stress due to the officer’s job, including shift work, overtime, fear of the officer being hurt or killed, and the officer sharing too little or too much about their job with them ( Finn, 2000 ).

Female police officers may be more adversely affected by work-related stressors and work-family conflict issues than male officers. Female officers continue to comprise a small, yet increasing, percentage of officers in the USA (11.6 percent in 2013) ( Crime in the United States, 2013 ). The percentage decreases as the police agency size decreases, falling to 7.4 percent among agencies in non-metropolitan counties. As discussed in Hartley, Mnatsakanova, Burchfiel, and Violanti (2014) , female officers experience unique stressors including concerns over their ability and skill to perform their duties compared to male officers, sexual harassment, discrimination, lack of support within the police agency, and increased work-family conflict.

One approach to reducing stress is to provide or increase support. The police culture has traditionally been resistant to accepting emotional support, even viewing it as risky and interfering with the officer’s reputation and job duties ( Evans et al ., 2013 ). Humor, on the other hand, has been a widely accepted form of coping, as it preserves the masculine or macho appearance typically associated with policing ( Evans et al ., 2013 ). Yet, some officers prefer to discuss difficult or challenging events with others who may have similar experiences ( Waters and Ussery, 2007 ). Peer support is particularly important to women and minority police officers who have encountered numerous obstacles in joining a traditionally white male occupation ( Hartley, Mnatsakanova, Burchfiel, and Violanti, 2014 ). Officers may also seek support from family and friends as a vehicle for more serious conversations ( Evans et al ., 2013 ). Seeking support from non-police connections is not without limitations: from the officer, the concern about the individual’s ability to understand and cope with the details, and from family and friends, feelings of discomfort and worry about the officer’s safety ( Waters and Ussery, 2007 ).

This paper presented much of the recent research on police stress and health. To date, however, we do not yet know the long-term effects of health as affected by stress in police work. When we are able to provide prospective analyses of health and psychological factors in this occupation, we will be in a better position to isolate policing as an agent of untoward outcomes. Exposure and job socialization have a profound impact on police officers, and future research should include etiologic studies that can evaluate potential occupational factors that lead to increased risks ( O’Hara et al ., 2013 ; Violanti, Fekedulegn, Hartley, Andrew, Gu, Burchfiel, 2013 ). Based on the results of this review, we can with some assurance state that police work serves as a fertile arena for assessment of the health consequences of stress. We may be better informed for preventive actions if we know the inherent risk of police stress in a multi-dimensional quantitative, qualitative, and contextual sense.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Contract No. 200–2003–01580. The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the NIOSH.

Contributor Information

John M. Violanti, The State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA,

Luenda E. Charles, Health Effects Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.

Erin McCanlies, Health Effects Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.

Tara A. Hartley, Health Effects Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.

Penelope Baughman, Health Effects Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.

Michael E. Andrew, Health Effects Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.

Desta Fekedulegn, Health Effects Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.

Claudia C. Ma, Health Effects Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.

Anna Mnatsakanova, Health Effects Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.

Cecil M. Burchfiel, Health Effects Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.

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Further reading

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Police stressors and health: a state-of-the-art review

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Burnout and stress measurement in police officers: literature review and a study with the operational police stress questionnaire.

• 1 Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
• 2 Psychology Unit of the Portuguese National Police, Lisbon, Portugal
• 3 Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
• 4 School of Health of the Polytechnic of Porto, Porto, Portugal
• 5 Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Research has demonstrated that policing is a stressful occupation and that this stress has a negative impact on police officers’ mental and physical health, performance, and interactions with citizens. Mental health at the workplace has become a concern due to the costs of depression, anxiety, burnout, and even suicide, which is high among police officers. To ameliorate occupational health, it is therefore crucial to identify stress and burnout levels on a regular basis. However, the instruments frequently used to measure stress have not valorized the specificity of policing tasks. This study aims to: (i) conduct a literature review to identify questionnaires used to assess occupational stress and burnout among police officers; (ii) analyze the psychometric characteristics of a Portuguese version of Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op); and, using the PSQ-Op and other questionnaires, (iii) to identify operational stress, burnout, and distress levels among Portuguese police officers. The literature review identified 108 studies which use a multiplicity of questionnaires to measure burnout or occupational stress among police officers, but few studies use specific police stress questionnaires. Sample sizes were mostly below 500 participants and studies were mainly developed in the last decade in the USA and Brazil, but also in another 24 countries, showing the extent of the interest in this topic. This study applied to 2057 police officers from the National Portuguese Police, a force policing urban centers, and used the PSQ-Op, as well the Spanish Burnout Inventory and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. The results show that the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of PSQ-Op are adequate. Factorial analysis revealed two dimensions defined as social and work issues, which were associated with measures of distress and burnout. Fit indices suggested a second-order solution called operational police stress. Overall, and considering the scale range of each questionnaire, the results showed moderate values of operational stress, distress, and burnout. However, considering their cut-off points, 85% of the sample presented high operational stress levels, 11% critical values for burnout, and 28% high distress levels, with 55% of the sample at risk of a psychological disorder. These results reinforce the need to prevent stress and to invest in police officers’ occupational health.

Introduction

According to recent systematic reviews, being a police officer seems to be a highly demanding and stressful occupation, due to the current characteristics of modern societies. For a police officer, those characteristics include: the uncertainty and danger related to the permanent threat of terrorist attacks, the increase of violence with firearms in urban areas, low human and material resources, team or supervision difficulties, criticism from citizens and society, and lack of understanding from family or friends ( Cumming et al., 1965 ; Webster, 2013 ; Magnavita et al., 2018 ; Purba and Demou, 2019 ). Numerous studies have tried to map police officers’ stress and its sources, a topic highlighted in the 1980s by the NIOSH technical report ( Hurrell et al., 1984 ), and in the 1990s by Norvell et al. (1993) , whose study focused on the influence of gender differences on law enforcement officers. Brown and Campbell (1994) , Violanti and Aron (1995) , and Stinchcomb (2004) also studied the sources of policing stress. However, this topic has attracted more interest in the last decade, with studies developed, for example, by Hickman et al. (2011) , Luceño-Moreno et al. (2016) , and Violanti et al. (2017) , all of whom continue to identify police officers’ stress sources and its negative impact on police officers’ health and job performance. More recently, Baldwin et al. (2019) , Wassermann et al. (2019) , and Ermasova et al. (2020) have contributed to the study of police officers’ stress and psychological/physical health. Related studies have focused more specifically on occupational stress (e.g., Agolla, 2009 ; Maran et al., 2015 ; Gutshall et al., 2017 ; Johnson et al., 2019 ), while others have investigated police officers’ burnout (e.g., Aguayo et al., 2017 ; Adams and Mastracci, 2019 ).

This has led to an increasing interest in police officers’ psychological well-being, with researchers emphasizing the negative impact of working with negative social situations, such as crime and death ( Henry, 2004 ), which can affect mental health and elicit physical fatigue, compassion fatigue, and even moral suffering ( Basinska and Wiciak, 2012 ; Papazoglou, 2016 ; Papazoglou et al., 2017 , 2020 ; Violanti et al., 2019 ). Moreover, studies have concluded that job stress has consistently increased among police officers in the last decade, and this chronic job stress negatively affects both the person and the organization. Individually, it leads to poor mental health ( Baldwin et al., 2019 ; Castro et al., 2019 ), work-family conflict ( Griffin and Sun, 2018 ), non-adaptive coping strategies and job stress ( LeBlanc et al., 2008 ; Zulkafaly et al., 2017 ), emotional labor ( van Gelderen et al., 2007 ), burnout ( Pines and Keinan, 2005 , 2007 ; Rosa et al., 2015 ), and even suicide ( Violanti, 1996 ; Blazina, 2017 ; Costa et al., 2019 ; Grassi et al., 2018 ). Organizationally, it affects performance ( Shane, 2010 ; Bertilsson et al., 2019 ; Kelley et al., 2019 ), counterproductive work behaviors ( Smoktunowicz et al., 2015 ), and inappropriate interactions with citizens, such as the use of excessive force ( Neely and Cleveland, 2011 ; Mastracci and Adams, 2019 ).

A number of news sources have recently reported that France 1 faces an increasing number of police officers committing suicide, especially after the intense work due to the “yellow vests/jackets” manifestations, while Spain 2 and Portugal 3 have also experienced several suicides of police officers, which motivated police officers to demonstrate in the streets and show their anger with job conditions in France 4 and Portugal 5 . Hard working conditions and colleagues’ suicides elicit continuous suffering and psychological pain that affects police officers, their families, and their tasks in important domains of urban life: safety and security. Additionally, stressful situations can increase the use of antidepressants, anxiolytics, or tranquilizers to alleviate psychological suffering, with Portugal being one of the countries where this increased use is the highest in Europe ( OECD, 2019 ), suggesting the need to invest in stress and anxiety prevention and in occupational health.

Despite the increased number of studies analyzing occupational stress and burnout among police officers, researchers frequently use measurement instruments developed for other professional groups which do not apply to the specificities of police tasks, including emotional labor and physical risks. This study aims to: (i) conduct a literature review to identify questionnaires that have been used to assess occupational stress and burnout among police officers; (ii) analyze the psychometric characteristics of a Portuguese version of Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op), developed by McCreary and Thompson (2006) , to assess the specificities of job stress among police officers; and, using the PSQ-op and other questionnaires, (iii) identify operational stress, burnout, and distress levels among Portuguese police officers.

Regarding burnout and occupational stress measurement among police officers, in the 1970s Freudenberger (1974) and Maslach (1976) identified the symptoms of burnout and defined burnout syndrome as a psychological disorder triggered by chronic exposure to work stress. Burnout has attracted considerable interest in the scientific community and has become a concern for workers, being recognized as a serious professional hazard and a psychosocial risk at work. The definition presented by Maslach and Jackson (1981) seems to be the most consensual, and states that burnout is a three-dimensional syndrome that affects workers whose job tasks are mainly related to helping and delivering care or services to other persons. Burnout is expressed by emotional exhaustion (feeling fatigued and powerless to provide more support to others), depersonalization (showing a disengaged, cynical, cold, and unsympathetic attitude toward persons at work, especially those who seek help or ask for services), and feelings of low professional achievement (feeling personal and professional inadequacy, and having a higher likelihood of committing errors during job tasks). Later, as a result of continuous research on burnout ( Maslach and Leiter, 2016 , 2017 ; Maslach, 2017 ) stated that burnout occurs more frequently among professionals who work with other persons, especially as service providers where, over the years, they must respond to the client’s demands in a society increasingly based on service exchanges, which elicits job stress.

Burnout appears as a response to chronic job stress ( Schaufeli, 2017 ) and has become an epidemic phenomenon with costs for workers and organizations, which is a concern that has been repeatedly highlighted by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work ( EU-OSHA, 2018 ), namely with its “Healthy Workplaces” campaign. Moreover, several key organizations have reinforced the importance of burnout in modern society. On 10 October 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined mental health in the workplace as the theme for World Mental Health Day, highlighting job stress among specific professional groups, and in 2019 the WHO defined suicide prevention as the theme 6 , alerting the public to the risk of suicide among specific professional groups. In September 2018, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions ( EUROFOUND, 2018 ) published the report “Burnout in the workplace: A review of data and policy responses in the EU,” which found that burnout had become a serious problem in Europe and that measures were needed to assess its levels among different occupations. In May 2019, the WHO 7 recognized burnout as an occupational phenomenon to be included in the next version of the International Classification of Diseases. Also in 2019, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work ( EU-OSHA, 2019a , b ) referred again to “The value of occupational safety and health and the societal costs of work-related injuries and diseases.” Again in 2019, the results of the “Third European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER-3”) reinforced the negative impact of job stress and the importance of occupation health in preventing occupational stress among other psychosocial risks, a topic that the WHO 8 also highlighted.

According to Lazaus and Folkman (1984 , p. 21), “psychological stress, therefore, is a relationship between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being.” Based on this definition, the concept of stress at the workplace, job stress, or occupational stress can be defined as a “pattern of physiological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses that occur when workers are presented with work demands not matched to their knowledge, skills, or abilities and which challenge their ability to cope” ( Patel et al., 2017 , p. 1), negatively influencing the worker’s wellbeing, performance, and productivity ( Quick and Henderson, 2016 ). Moreover, stress, especially job stress and occupational stress, are related and can predict burnout, since job stress can result from the relationship between job demands and job resources, or from the effort-reward imbalance ( Peiró et al., 2001 ; Lin et al., 2013 ; Chirico, 2016 ; Patel et al., 2017 ; Salvagioni et al., 2017 ; Wang et al., 2017 ). Furthermore, burnout can be a long-term process of resource depletion and inadequate responses to chronic job stress ( Maslach et al., 2001 ; Schaufeli, 2017 ). Burnout is difficult to distinguish from depression since they share similar symptoms ( Bianchi et al., 2015 ; Golonka et al., 2019 ; Koutsimani et al., 2019 ; Bianchi, 2020 ).

Using instruments that allow burnout and stress to be measured is therefore a vital necessity before designing intervention programs for resilience, stress management, and burnout or suicide prevention. However, for police officers as a professional group, those instruments must be chosen carefully, considering the specificity of their policing tasks. To identify the instruments used to measure burnout and stress among police officers, a literature search was performed between January and December 2019 on the EBSCO database of scientific papers, using the following search expression: “police officers” and “burnout or stress” and “instruments or tools or scale or questionnaire or inventory or measurement or assessment or evaluation.” The search found 191 scientific published papers after removing duplicated references. However, 49 papers were focused exclusively on post-traumatic stress disorder; 26 were written in languages other than English, Portuguese, or Spanish, or the complete paper was unavailable; 5 were theoretical papers; and 3 used qualitative methods. Thus, a final number of 108 studies were analyzed, identifying the publication year, number of participants, country of the sample, and instruments used for burnout and stress or occupational stress measurement.

Results of the literature review ( Table 1 ) revealed that most of the studies are recent ( Figure 1 ), though the interest in questionnaires to assess burnout or job stress began in the 1970s. In detail, 11 studies were published between 1979 and 1989, 13 between 1990 and 1999, 18 between 2000 and 2009, and 66 between 2010 and 2019. The samples came from 26 countries ( Figure 2 ), mostly the USA (33), but Brazil appears with 12 studies, 4 or 5 studies were found in the UK, Poland, India, Canada, Spain, and the Netherlands, and 2 or 3 in Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal, Taiwan, Jamaica, Italy, Greece, Germany, and Finland. Three papers used samples from several countries in the same study. Finally, countries with only one study included Thailand, Sri Lanka, South Korea, South Africa, Pakistan, Lithuania, Israel, and China. These data express the global interest of scientific research in stress among police officers.

Table 1. Studies using questionnaires to measure burnout or occupational stress of police officers.

Figure 1. Distribution of papers according year of publication.

Figure 2. Distribution of papers according country of the study.

The sample sizes varied between 11 and 13,146 participants ( M = 595; SD = 1358.56). However, a more detailed analysis ( Figure 3 ) revealed that 28 studies sampled 11–95 participants, 24 studies sampled 101–289, 20 studies sampled 305–489, 22 studies sampled 500–951, and 13 studies sampled 1000–4500 participants. One study collected data from 13,146 police officers in the USA ( McCarty et al., 2019 ).

Figure 3. Distribution of papers according sample size.

The analysis of measurement instruments revealed that 51 studies measured burnout ( Figure 4 ), with the Maslach Burnout Inventory being prevalent (32 studies), while the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory was used in five studies. Three studies used other measures or developed questionnaires adapted from other instruments, while nine studies used specific but different burnout measures. Measures of job stress were found ( Figure 5 ) in 72 studies: six used the Perceived Stress Scale, four used the Lipp Stress Inventory (from Brazil), five used the Police Stress Questionnaire, and 11 used several different police stress questionnaires. However, 10 studies used several occupational stress inventories, 15 used several job stress questionnaires, 15 used several stress questionnaires, and six used other instruments assessing health symptoms other than stress. This review revealed the proliferation of stress measures, although some studies already used specific police stress questionnaires. It can be concluded that measuring burnout and stress among police officers is a concern for the scientific community.

Figure 4. Distribution of papers according burnout measurement instrument.

Figure 5. Distribution of papers according stress measurement instrument.

In Portugal, for burnout measurement among police officers, a study used the Spanish Burnout Inventory ( Gil-Monte, 2011 ) and demonstrated that this questionnaire had adequate psychometric properties for a sample of Portuguese police officers ( Figueiredo-Ferraz et al., 2014 ). Another study ( Queirós et al., 2013 ) used the Maslach Burnout Inventory, analyzing only Cronbach’s alphas but not validating a Portuguese version. Regarding stress measurement, one study used a global measure of stress ( Gomes and Afonso, 2016 ), but no studies were found with specific stress measures for policing. Following the analysis of the specific stress instruments found in the literature review, we decided to translate and validate a Portuguese version of the Police Stress Questionnaire for operational stress. The Police Stress Questionnaire ( McCreary and Thompson, 2006 ) is a short measure (20 items) allowing for the assessment of operational or organizational police stress, it is freely available for research purposes and has established stress levels with cut-off points. Since some studies used global measures of stress or stress symptoms, it was decided to also use the short questionnaire Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), which has a recent Portuguese version ( Pereira et al., 2019 ). Thus, this study can contribute to the development of a Portuguese version of a specific police stress instrument, and to identify stress and burnout levels of a sample of police officers using validated instruments.

Materials And Methods

Participants.

The sample was composed of 2057 police officers of the Portuguese National Police ( Polícia de Segurança Pública, PSP ), a police force that works only in the cities of all 18 Portuguese districts and the Azores and Madeira Islands. The sample constitutes nearly 10% of this force and all districts were represented: Lisbon contributed 45% of the sample, Porto 19%, Setubal 6%, Faro and Azores 4%, Madeira 3%, and other districts between 0.3 and 2.5%.

Regarding police officers’ positions, 78.8% were in the “ agent ” category (the lowest-ranking officer), 14.6% were “chief,” and 6.5% commander (the highest rank). The most frequent tasks were patrolling (52%), criminal investigation (17%), and road traffic management (13%). Other participants worked in integrated special police units, rapid intervention teams, specific proximity teams (e.g., schools or elderly safety programs), administrative services, and commander teams.

The age of the participants varied between 21 and 65 years old ( M = 42.47; SD = 8.785), with 33.4% between 21 and 38 years, 32.5% between 39 and 45, and the rest between 46 and 65. Job experience in the Portuguese National Police varied between 1 and 41 years ( M = 19.267; SD = 9.036), with 32.3% of the sample between 1 and 14 years, 34.7% between 15 and 23 years, and the rest between 24 and 41 years. Regarding gender, 92% were men and 8% women, while overall women represent nearly 10% of the police force. To avoid the possible identification of individuals from the matching of position, age, gender, and district, no statistical analyses were performed that combined these data, and no other sociodemographic data were collected.

The questionnaire was composed of four major groups of questions, the first characterizing the sociodemographic data (age, sex, job experience, district, position, and job task). The second group was composed of the Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op), developed by McCreary and Thompson (2004 , 2006) to assess the specificities of job stress among police officers both for operational and organizational stress sources (PSQ-Op and PSQ-Org). This study used the operational stress sources only. The PSQ-Op questionnaire is composed of 20 items evaluated on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (“not at all stressful” or “no stress at all”) to 7 (“very stressful” or “a lot of stress”), with 4 indicating moderate stress. The authors were contacted by email to obtain permission for the Portuguese version, but no answer was obtained for the PSQ-Op as it is provided free for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes 9 . In later developments, McCreary et al. (2017) established norms and cut-off values, with values below 2.0 indicating low stress, between 2.1 and 3.4 moderate stress, and above 3.5 high stress. As far as we know, no Portuguese version of the PSQ-Op has been published, and two psychologists (one conducting research about policing and police forces, another working with police officers) translated the questionnaire into Portuguese. Another researcher, unfamiliar with police officers’ work, subsequently back-translated the questionnaire into English and compared it with the original version. Finally, these three researchers discussed each item with two police officers (a patrol police officer and a police station commander) until a lexical and cultural consensus was obtained, including suggestions from the police officers to add some examples adapted for Portuguese situations ( Table 2 ). A pilot study was performed with 20 police officers to ensure that the questionnaire was easy to complete and was applicable to the Portuguese situation, and no major changes were made.

Table 2. PSQ-Op original and Portuguese versions.

The third group of questions was composed from the Spanish Burnout Inventory (SBI, Gil-Monte, 2011 ), using a Portuguese version already tested on police officers, having demonstrated adequate psychometric properties ( Figueiredo-Ferraz et al., 2014 ). This instrument considers burnout as a process of cognitive and emotional deterioration, involving attitudes of indifference and guilt ( Gil-Monte and Manzano-García, 2015 ). It includes 20 items organized on four scales: (1) enthusiasm for the job (demonstrating, for instance, the ambition to accomplish a person’s professional goals because they are a source of personal achievement); (2) psychological exhaustion (emotional and physical exhaustion related to job tasks, increased by dealing every day with people who present difficulties or problems); (3) indolence (negative attitudes of indifference and cynicism when dealing with persons demanding things related to a person’s job tasks); and (4) guilt (negative feelings, behaviors, and attitudes in the workplace, elicited by interactions during labor relations). Each item is assessed by a 5-point frequency scale ranging from 0 (never) to 4 (very frequent or every day). Low scores on Enthusiasm for the Job, along with high scores on Psychological Exhaustion, Indolence, and Guilt, indicate high levels of burnout. Scores for each of the four scales are calculated using the mean of the items that compose each scale, and a global score for burnout is then calculated after reversing the items of the Enthusiasm scale. According to Poletto et al. (2016) , it is possible to use percentile analysis to identify burnout at very low levels ( P ≤ 10), low levels (11 < P ≤ 33), moderate levels (34 < P ≤ 66), high levels (67 < P ≤ 89), and critical levels ( P ≥ 90).

The fourth and last group of questions was composed from the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), from Kessler et al. (2002 , 2003) . We used the Portuguese version by Pereira et al. (2019) , who described K10 as having 10 items that assess the frequency of non-specific psychological distress symptoms during the last month, being a self-report measure based on questions about the symptoms of anxiety and depression. All items are assessed on a 5-point scale (1 = “none of the time” to 5 = “all of the time”) and the sum of the scores indicates the stress level, where high scores correspond to high stress levels. Using this sum it is possible to identify cut-off points of stress levels, where 10–15 points correspond to “low distress,” 16–21 points to “moderate,” 22–29 points to “high,” and 30–50 points to “very high.” Values between 22 and 50 points indicate a risk of developing a psychological disorder ( Andrews and Slade, 2001 ; Pereira et al., 2019 ).

After formal authorization by the Directorate of the Portuguese National Police to develop the study and collect data among the police officers, an online questionnaire was prepared on Google Forms with a link inviting participation in a study of burnout and occupational stress among police officers. The Directorate disseminated this link to the police officers using their professional email addresses. There was no direct contact between participants and researchers, and data were collected in September and October 2019. No exclusion criteria existed, and participation was voluntary. The participation rate was nearly 10% of the number of police officers that constitute this police force. Researchers were unable to identify how many police officers read the email and/or followed the link and decided not to participate. This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the Ethics guidelines of the FPCEUP Ethics Committee, having online informed consent from all participants in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Thus, before responding to the questionnaire, participants were asked to provide their informed consent, with the notification that data would be gathered anonymously. Data were accessed by one researcher only, who downloaded the Excel file and converted it to SPSS format.

Data Analysis

Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 24 (SPSS Inc., Chicago) and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) version 24. In the first stage, preliminary analyses were conducted in order to assess descriptive statistics, and normality and non-multicollinearity at item level. To test the factorial structure of the PSQ-Op, we used a combination of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The sample was randomly split into two samples through the randomization function in SPSS. With the first part of the sample ( n = 636), an EFA using Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) with direct oblimin rotation was conducted to identify a viable factor structure by extracting the minimum number of factors that explained the maximum variance in the 20-item scale. With the remaining sample, a CFA was performed to verify if the solution obtained from the EFA presented an acceptable fit. The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), the comparative fit index (CFI), and the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) were the three indicators used to evaluate the model’s fit. An acceptable-fit model was determined if RMSEA ≤ 0.08, CFI > 0.90, and SRMR < 0.10 ( Kline, 2005 ). The chi-square test (χ 2 ) was reported for completeness, but not used to check the model fit due to its sensibility to large samples ( Kelloway, 1995 ). Based on the multivariate normality violations, CFA used the maximum likelihood estimation with bootstrapping (1000 resamples). The Bollen-Stine bootstrap p was an index fit also reported. Alternative factor models were generated and tested according to the modification indexes (MI > 11).

Convergent validity was assessed by computing the average variance extracted with values of AVE ≥ 0.50 indicating satisfactory validity. In turn, in order to investigate the evidence of discriminant validity, we examined whether the AVE values were equal to or greater than the squared correlation between the factors ( r 2 DV ) ( Maroco, 2014 ). Following the model specification, reliability was investigated using (a) Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and (b) composite reliability for each factor and for the overall scale.

Finally, the relationship between the PSQ-Op dimensions and distress and burnout symptoms was determined from the Pearson correlation coefficients including the entire sample, as well as the descriptive statistics, which allowed us to identify burnout, distress, and operational stress levels.

Since there are no specific measures for operational stress among police officers, it was necessary to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the PSQ-Op before identifying burnout, distress, and operational stress levels.

Preliminary Analysis: Item Properties

As shown in Table 3 , all possible Likert-scale answer values for each item were observed. The mean for most items was close to 5. The overall mean response for the 20 items was 4.97 ( SD = 0.45) No deviations from the normal distribution were found considering skewness ( Sk , < 3.0) and kurtosis ( Ku , ≤ 7.0) absolute values ( Byrne, 2016 ). All items presented significant positive corrected item-total correlations (≥0.40) and low variation in reliability if the item was deleted. Inter-correlations among all items were significant and no multicollinearity was obtained (0.390 ≤ r ≤ 0.731) ( Tabachnick and Fidell, 2001 ). Based on this analysis, 20 items were retained for subsequent analyses.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics about PSQ-Op items ( n = 2057).

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

In order to examine the factor structure, an EFA was conducted based on a randomized split of the data in the sample ( n = 636). EFA using principal axis factor analysis with promax rotation determined the factor structure of the 20 items of the questionnaire. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure presented a value of 0.964 and Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant (χ 2 = 9621.92, p < 0.001), validating the correlation matrix structure. EFA yielded a 20-item measure with a two-factor solution ( Table 4 ): nine items included content related to social issues (items 7, 8, and 14–20), which expressed the feeling that a police officer is always on the job, as well as facing difficulties in managing personal life or balancing work and family, and having to deal with the public/social image of the police force and citizens’ negative comments; the other eleven items included content that reflected work issues (items related to specific details of policing tasks such as shift work, paperwork, injuries, fatigue, and traumatic events). These two factors together (social issues and work issues) accounted for 60.30% of the total variance. A good internal consistency for each factor was estimated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients: factor 1, α = 0.937 and factor 2, α = 0.933.

Table 4. Factors extracted from the exploratory factor analysis (EFA): communalities and factor loadings ( n = 636).

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

Two-factor model.

Mardia’s coefficient for the PSQ-Op was 181.19, indicating violation of the multivariate normality, so a maximum likelihood estimation with bootstrapping was used to generate accurate estimations of standard errors (bias-corrected at the 95% confidence level). The two-factor model derived from EFA was then cross-validated on 1421 participants retained from the entire sample. This solution was run and demonstrated a marginal fit, since the CFI value was above 0.87 and RMSEA and SRMR values were below 0.10 ( Bong et al., 2013 ). The factor loadings of items were above 0.65 ( Table 5 ). The Bollen-Stine value ( p = 0.001) suggested a poor fit ( p > 0.05 according to Bollen and Stine, 1992 ), but this result might have been affected by the large sample size. High correlations between factors were observed.

Table 5. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA): fit indexes for each model tested ( n = 1421).

Convergent and Discriminant Validity Evidence

Values of AVE indicated the construct’s convergent evidence. AVE was determined for social issues (AVE = 0.59) and work issues (AVE = 0.54). Concerning the discriminant validity, AVE of the factors was compared to the r 2 DV . AVE for the two scales was smaller than r 2 DV= 0.76 . These data confirmed that the factors are strongly related to each other, indicating that a unidimensional model or a second-order latent model may be admissible solutions.

Unidimensional and Second-Order Models

A single latent model where the factor of operational police stress loads on all 20 items presented a poor fit. Higher error covariance was observed in more than 50% of the items. Based on this result, no additional covariance paths were allowed between error terms. Thus, we examined fit indices for a second-order solution called operational police stress ( Table 5 ), integrating the social and work issues. Based on the high modification indices, allowing errors to covary for items 3 and 5, 4 and 6, 10 and 11, and 15 and 16 improved the model fit. The PSQ-Op second-order construct ( Figure 6 ) presented an acceptable fit based on the values of CFI, RMSEA, and SRMR fit indices. All factor loadings were statistically significant ( p < 001). The constrained structural weights from operational police stress to social and work factors were high ( Ý = 0.89, Ý = 0.98, p < 0.001, respectively).

Figure 6. Final confirmatory factor analysis: second-order model with correlated errors.

Internal Consistency Evidence

To examine the reliability of the scores in the final model, we used Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and composite reliability. Good internal consistency was obtained in the higher-order construct (α = 0.96) and, simultaneously, for the first-order factors (α = 0.93). Composite reliability coefficients presented values of 0.92 and 0.93 respectively for factors with content related to work and social issues.

Relationship of PSQ-Op Factors to Distress and Burnout

The PSQ-Op dimensions obtained from the factorial analysis were associated with measures of distress and burnout for the overall sample ( Table 6 ). Positive and moderate to strong correlations ( Ratner, 2009 ) were found, demonstrating the convergent validity of this tool (except for Guilt where correlations were weaker). Higher scores on operational police stress dimensions, such as problems directly related to working conditions and to the impact of work on family and social life, were associated with increased scores in other scales of distress and burnout, except for Enthusiasm, which presented negative correlations. Considering the correlation values, it seems that social-related issues contributes most for burnout and distress compared to work-related issues.

Table 6. Relationship between PSQ-OP latent variables and distress and burnout symptoms ( n = 2057).

Psychological Indicators

Analyses of all the questionnaire scales ( Table 7 ) revealed that the sample presented at least one participant with the minimum or maximum value allowed by the scales’ range. The mean values for operational stress were moderate, being higher for Social-related issues than for Operational stress global score and Work-related issues. Moderate mean values were also found for burnout, being higher for Psychologic Exhaustion and Indolence than for Enthusiasm and Burnout, while Guilt presented a low value. Finally, moderate values were found for Distress, being higher (proportionally) for Anxiety and Distress than for Depression, though very similar. These results are based on mean values of the sample inside each scale range.

Table 7. Descriptive statistics of operational stress, distress and burnout.

However, a more detailed analysis was performed considering established levels and cut-off points for each questionnaire ( Table 8 ). For operational stress, the sample presented high stress for 89% on Work-related issues, 84.8% for Operational stress, and 76.2% for Social-related issues, while low stress was recorded at 2.5, 2.7, and 5.9%, respectively for each dimension, suggesting that police officers are experiencing high stress levels and, as referred, not moderates stress according to the mean values. Regarding burnout, 10.6% of the sample presented a very low level and 25.3% a low level for Enthusiasm, while 16.5% presented a high level and 10.6% a critical level for Psychological Exhaustion. For Indolence, those values were respectively 21.8 and 9.7% for Guilt, 20.3 and 8.9%, and for Burnout 21.9 and 10.7%. Finally, for Distress, 21.2% presented low stress, 26.5% high stress, and 28% very high stress, with 54.5% at risk of developing a psychological disorder. This suggests the importance of using cut-off points for each instrument, since they allow us to obtain more detailed information.

Table 8. Sample’s frequency (and percentage) distribution according established level (cut-off points).

The literature review showed that the most used psychological measures are not specific nor validated for the specificities of policing tasks. A previous study ( Figueiredo-Ferraz et al., 2014 ) demonstrated that the Spanish Burnout Inventory has adequate psychometric properties for police officers. Furthermore, the Portuguese version of the Police Stress Questionnaire for operational stress also revealed adequate psychometric properties, having a second-order construct but also the possibility to consider two scales that measure work-related issues and social-related issues. However, Irniza et al. (2014) found a unidimensional construct on PSQ-Op for Malay police officers.

Using those two measures combined with a short measure of distress, it was possible to identify burnout, distress, and operational stress among a large national sample of Portuguese police officers, representing nearly 10% of the entire Portuguese police force. The results showed that the mean values of burnout, distress, and operational stress were moderate, but the cut-off points revealed that operational stress and its scales of work-related issues and social-related issues presented high stress levels for more than 75% of the sample (85, 89, and 76%, respectively).

These results are in line with other studies, such as the research by Lipp et al. (2017) , who found that 52% of their sample felt stressed, and the study by Brown and Cooper (1996) , who also found high stress levels. In the original study for the development of the PSQ-Op, McCreary and Thompson (2006) found that the mean values among Canadian police officers for the 20 items varied between 2.66 and 4.40 and that operational stress had a mean value of 3.32, while the Portuguese sample presented values between 4.02 and 5.57 with operational stress having a mean value of 4.98. Despite the difference between the time of data collection and cultural differences between the countries, given that the maximum value in the range is 7 points, the data suggest a higher level of stress among the Portuguese than the Canadian police officers. Summerlin et al. (2010) found high stress levels among American police officers for some operational tasks (e.g., 68% of the sample considered paperwork to be highly stressful and 73% considered handling the public image to be so), but other tasks were considered as highly stressful only for a few participants (e.g., 16% for activities during days off), while the Portuguese sample considered all tasks as either moderately or highly stressful. Bergman et al. (2016) reported mean values for operational stress among American police officers as 3.4, and 2.91 after a mindfulness intervention. Kaplan et al. (2017) reported mean values for operational stress (also among American police officers) as 3.47. All of these values are smaller than the Portuguese sample in the current study.

The sample presented moderate values for distress symptoms, but 28% of the sample presented very high distress levels, with 55% at risk of developing a psychological disorder. Additionally, the depression scale presented higher values than anxiety. As stated by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work ( EU-OSHA, 2018 , 2019a , b ), stress has become one of the most important psychosocial risks in the workplace, and it is crucial to develop measures to prevent it. Moreover, anxiety and depression are increasing ( OECD, 2019 ) and are related to distress and burnout, which increases the difficulty of identifying and distinguishing these psychological problems ( Bianchi et al., 2015 ; Golonka et al., 2019 ; Koutsimani et al., 2019 ; Bianchi, 2020 ).

The sample also presented moderate values for burnout, with Guilt having the lowest average, while Psychological Exhaustion and Indolence were higher. However, the analysis of cut-off points revealed that 11% of the sample presented critical values for Burnout, while values between 9 and 11% were found for other burnout dimensions. These values are less than those found by McCarty et al. (2019) who found that 19% of a sample of American police officers suffered with emotional exhaustion and 13% with depersonalization. However, Gutshall et al. (2017) found moderate burnout levels for American police officers, whereas Solana et al. (2013) found high levels of burnout for Spanish police officers. As studies have revealed that burnout decreases self-protective behaviors and increases aggressive behaviors ( Euwema et al., 2004 ; Queirós et al., 2013 ; Ellrich, 2016 ), it seems important to assess burnout levels on a regular basis.

Finally, analysis of the correlation between operational stress, distress, and burnout found that higher scores for operational stress, such as problems directly related to working conditions and the impact of work on family and social life, were associated with higher scores for other scales of distress and burnout. Furthermore, it seems that social-related issues interfere most with burnout and distress compared to work-related issues. This may be due to the fact that currently a police officer is not so well respected by society, especially when they are from a national police force that works in urban centers, such as the Portuguese police officers sampled in this study. This means that a large number of participants are away from their families and friends, working in large urban cities such as Lisbon or Oporto, and have difficulties receiving social support from their relatives. This situation contributes to a difficult balance between work and family, and Portugal is a country where professionals work more hours and have more work-family conflicts according to the OECD Better Life Index 2019 10 .

Burnout and stress among police officers has received increased attention from the scientific community and society, due to the psychological suffering they inflict on the individual, but also because of their impact on the performance of police officers and their interactions with citizens, leading to the increased possibility of all interactions being considered a threat, or to a tendency to use excessive force. Thus, it is crucial to develop stress management interventions ( Patterson et al., 2014 ) and resilience interventions focused on policing specificities, such as those developed by projects like BCOPS ( Wirth et al., 2017 ), HEROES ( Thornton et al., 2020 ), POWER ( Papazoglou and Blumberg, 2019 ), or POLICE ( Trombka et al., 2018 ). However, before implementing an intervention, we need to identify burnout and stress levels, both in the early and later stages of a career. This implies a regular assessment of police officers and will be made easier if short and specific instruments are available and validated for policing stressors. Moreover, occupational health has become a concern, along with the need to identify critical situations early that might, without intervention, lead to situations that are more dangerous. Training mental strength, resilience, or emotional intelligence seems to be a possibility ( Papazoglou and Andersen, 2014 ; Meulen et al., 2017 ; Romosiou et al., 2018 ), as well as reflecting the work values of police officers ( Basinska and Daderman, 2019 ), since motivations for becoming a police officer have changed in recent decades ( Lester, 1983 ; White et al., 2010 ). Furthermore, according to Blumberg et al. (2019 , p. 1), new directions should be taken in police academy training, preparing police officers “to meet the contemporary challenges of police work,” and also to develop psychological skills, such as by including in the curricula stress prevention and management programs, as well as topics such as the stress-burnout relationship.

Psychological suffering among police officers can be expressed to others through disengagement or cynical behavior, or impact on the self in the form of depression, sometimes leading to suicide. In fact, suicide among police has become a serious problem and is commonly carried out with the service handgun ( Costa et al., 2019 ). Discussing the current study can help to increase awareness of psychological problems, especially those that are chronic and may result in burnout, and also to reduce burnout stigma and the stigma to seek help ( Endriulaitiene et al., 2019 ). The results highlight the importance of occupational health services in risk prevention and the recovery of workers who play a crucial role in society, such as police officers who deal with safety and security at a national level. Studies that seek to identify police officers’ stress and burnout levels must be continued and will contribute to identifying the risk and protective factors that influence a person’s well-being, quality of life, job performance, and mental health, and also their families and the beneficiaries of police services (society and citizens).

Theoretical Implications

This study highlights the need to continue research on burnout and stress among police officers to develop our understanding of specific police stressors, such as those evaluated by the PSQ-Op. The literature review reinforces the importance of developing psychological instruments focused on policing tasks, while the data of the sample allow us to verify the relationship between job stress, stress symptoms, and burnout, which present moderate to strong correlations, suggesting they are independent constructs. Furthermore, these results can contribute to scientific research on police forces, a topic that has received increased attention globally, with a particular focus on the causes of stress and burnout. Both the World Health Organization and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work have highlighted the need to prevent and manage job stress and to valorize mental health in the workplace, as well as the need to view burnout as an occupational phenomenon that must be considered among other psychosocial risks at work.

Practical Implications

This study provides preliminary data for the Portuguese version of the Police Stress Questionnaire, which presents adequate psychometric properties. Being a short measure, it can be used easily in the future to identify early police officers at risk of developing psychological problems, since occupational stress is related to burnout as an inadequate method of managing chronic job stress. This study used data from a large sample of Portuguese police officers, representing 10% of the entire national force, and the results can be used to identify stress and burnout levels before implementing intervention programs. Additionally, the literature review can be used to identify scientific studies that have assessed stress and burnout among police officers using questionnaires. These kinds of studies can contribute to reducing the stigma of seeking help when police officers confirm that a large number of colleagues are experiencing the same symptoms and difficulties.

Limitations

In the literature review, the search was focused on studies using questionnaires. This does not reflect all studies of police stress and burnout, which have increased enormously in the last decade. Moreover, the review did not consider post-traumatic stress, which can occur among professionals such as police officers who work in dangerous situations and frequently face critical incidents that can be potentially traumatic. Regarding data collection, the sample came from only one of the Portuguese police forces (called Polícia de Segurança Pública , a civil force). Despite the data being a national sample, no data were collected from police officers working in rural areas (from a militarized force called Guarda Nacional Republicana ), or from a judicial/criminal force (called Polícia Judicária ), which together comprise the three major Portuguese police forces. Furthermore, data analysis focused on the psychometric properties of the PSQ-Op and on stress/burnout identification levels. The analyses did not compare individual and professional characteristics such as age, gender, or career position. It is worth noting that the meta-analysis of Aguayo et al. (2017) found that sociodemographic factors can be associated with police officers’ burnout.

Future Research

It will be important in future research to include samples from other Portuguese police forces to verify the invariance of PSQ-Op structure and validity. It will also be necessary to analyze the organizational stressors, which form the second part of the Police Stress Questionnaire. Moreover, the impact of individual and professional characteristics on stress and burnout must be considered, since the literature frequently suggests that different genders deal differently with emotions and stressors, with women feeling more emotional exhaustion, whereas men feel more disengagement, depersonalization, or indolence, and react differently to shift work ( Violanti et al., 2018 ). Additionally, other psychological variables such as coping and resilience must be included, since they can affect stress responses and the process of stress and burnout development ( Allison et al., 2019 ).

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author, after National Portuguese Police authorization.

Ethics Statement

This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the Ethics guidelines of the FPCEUP Ethics Committee, having online informed consent from all participants in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The study was approved by the Portuguese National Police.

Author Contributions

CQ, FP, AP, and CS designed the study. CQ and FP developed the theoretical framework. CQ and AM performed the literature review. AB, AP, and CQ performed the statistical analyses. All authors participated in results’ discussion and final version of the manuscript. All authors of this research manuscript have directly participated in the planning, execution, and analysis of this study.

This work was funded by the Center for Psychology at the University of Porto, Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT UID/PSI/00050/2013) and EU FEDER through COMPETE 2020 program (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007294).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We wish to reinforce there are several acknowledgements Directorate of Portuguese National Police who approved and disseminated the study; all police officers of the PSP (from the first professional positions through to the high commanders) who generously spent their time participating in and disseminating the study, allowing us to collect data from a national sample; Professor Pedro Gil-Monte and TEA Ediciones, Spain, who authorized the use of SBI Portuguese version; and Sara Faria and Sílvia Monteiro Fonseca, who helped with the literature search, its organization, and preliminary analysis.

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Keywords : burnout, distress, operational stress, police officers, questionnaire validation

Citation: Queirós C, Passos F, Bártolo A, Marques AJ, da Silva CF and Pereira A (2020) Burnout and Stress Measurement in Police Officers: Literature Review and a Study With the Operational Police Stress Questionnaire. Front. Psychol. 11:587. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00587

Received: 04 January 2020; Accepted: 12 March 2020; Published: 07 May 2020.

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*Correspondence: Cristina Queirós, [email protected]

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Stress and psychological wellbeing in british police force officers and staff

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• Published: 16 November 2022
• Volume 42 , pages 29291–29304, ( 2023 )

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• Helen Oliver   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6756-399X 1 ,
• Owen Thomas 1 ,
• Rich Neil 1 ,
• Tjerk Moll 1 &
• Robert James Copeland 2  

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Informed by the Demand Resources and Individual Effects model (DRIVE; Mark & Smith,  2008 ), we assessed how work and individual characteristics were associated with perceived job stress, and psychological wellbeing outcomes (e.g., anxiety, depression, positive mood) in a cross-sectional study with two British police forces (N = 852 officers and staff). Work characteristics predicted psychological wellbeing outcomes both directly and indirectly through the perception of job stress. Work resources and individual characteristics moderated the relationships between work demands, perception of job stress and psychological wellbeing outcomes. The associations between perception of work demands, job stress and psychological wellbeing outcomes were improved in police officers and staff who reported moderate-high physical activity behavior. This study added new knowledge to the domain as it was the first to test the DRIVE model in its entirety in an occupational setting. It also provided new insight into the multi-dimensional factors associated with psychological wellbeing in policing. Practically, the findings implied a reduction of work demands, or interventions that target appraisals and/or physical activity might improve psychological wellbeing in police workers.

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Introduction

Across a range of occupational settings, individuals who do not manage stress effectively are prone to negative health outcomes (Cox & Griffiths, 2010 ; Mark & Smith, 2008 ). Policing is as a stressful occupation, that places officers and staff at risk of experiencing mental health conditions of anxiety or depression (e.g., Jackman et al., 2020 ; Nelson & Smith, 2016 ). Research into the stressors that affect police workers mental health has grown (e.g., Demou et al., 2020 ), with operational (e.g., working alone at night, attending traumatic events, injury risk) and organizational stressors (e.g., workload, role clarity, co-worker relations) prominent (e.g., McCreary & Thompson 2006 ). Within the police, stressors that have been associated with ill-health outcomes include: physical disorders (e.g., cardiovascular disease; Hartley et al., 2011 ); mental ill-health (e.g., anxiety and depression; Nelson & Smith 2016 ); and, impaired psychological wellbeing (e.g., Demou et al., 2020 ; Duran et al., 2018 ). Psychological wellbeing (PWB) is considered a positive indicator of mental health, represented by quality of life, positive affect, and negative affect (Dodge et al., 2012 ); with researchers suggesting it is important to consider both PWB and mental health, as the absence of mental ill-health might not indicate the presence of positive functioning, or PWB (Zhang & Chen, 2019 ).

To understand the relationships between stress, health and psychological wellbeing, various conceptualizations of stress have been developed, with Lazarus and Folkman’s ( 1984 ) transactional perspective commonly adopted (Cox & Griffiths, 2010 ). Here, the stress process involves four concepts: the demands an individual experiences; a cognitive evaluation of these demands (primary appraisal); perceived options for coping (secondary appraisal); and, stress-related responses. Individuals play an active role in their stress response, as it is shaped by their appraisals and attempts to cope. This helps explain why two employees might experience the same stressors and yet respond differently (Mark & Smith, 2008 ).

Despite the popularity of Lazarus and Folkman’s conceptualization, it has not informed all empirical study. Cox and Griffiths ( 2010 ) offered a taxonomy of work-related stress theories comprising two types of models: process models, which stem from Lazarus’ transactional perspective and emphasize an individual’s role in determining health outcomes; and, structural models, grounded in an interactional perspective that emphasize the work characteristics that might determine health outcomes (Cox & Griffiths, 2010 ). A complete review of the structural models is beyond the scope of our paper (see Cox & Griffiths,  2010 ). However, in short, researchers differentiate between two broad categories of working conditions; ‘job demands’ refer to aspects of the job requiring sustained effort that are detrimental to health (e.g., workload and time pressure) and ‘job resources’, which are health-protecting factors (e.g., control and support; Demerouti et al., 2001 ). Structural models have good predictive validity but are too narrow in scope to account for individual differences in the experience of work-related stress (Mark & Smith, 2008 ).

To measure the complex stress experiences of individuals within the workplace, Mark and Smith ( 2008 ) developed the Demands Resources and Individual Effects (DRIVE) model of work-related stress. The original (simple) DRIVE model included variables that might influence the perception of stress but has subsequently been developed into an enhanced DRIVE model (see Margrove & Smith,  2022 , for a review). The enhanced DRIVE model featured 12 relationships for how the variables might interact (see Fig.  1 ; Table  3 ). The concept of ‘appraisals’ from transactional theory was included through the mechanism of perceived job stress, which was suggested to mediate the relationships between work demands and health and/or wellbeing outcomes (e.g., anxiety, depression, job satisfaction). Consequently, Mark and Smith proposed that work demands would not be associated, or have a reduced association, with negative health outcomes if the individual does not perceive them to be stressful. The concepts of job demands and resources were also included, situated alongside individual characteristics (personal demands and resources) in a multi-dimensional framework depicting direct and indirect effects with perceived job stress and health outcomes (see Fig.  1 ). The DRIVE model accounted for the key variables that might influence perceptions of stress and integrated transactional theory within an interactional model, providing a suitable framework to inform research into work-related stress (Williams et al., 2017 ).

DRIVE model with study variables

To facilitate exploration of the multi-dimensions of work-related stress and PWB within the DRIVE model, and to overcome some issues (e.g., participant load) of obtaining a holistic assessment of work-related stress, Williams and Smith ( 2012 ) developed the single-item Wellbeing Process Questionnaire (WPQ). Mark and Smith ( 2008 ) encouraged researchers to include measures for variables relevant to their population and context and introduce them into the DRIVE model under the headings of: work demands; work resources; individual characteristics (personal demands and resources); perceived job stress and health outcomes. Other variables that have been added to the DRIVE model include rumination (Zhang & Smith, 2021 ), work-life balance, and burnout (Omosehin & Smith, 2019 ).

Elements of the DRIVE model have been tested with British nurses and university students (Galvin, 2016 ; Williams et al., 2017 ), Italian nurses (Zurlo et al., 2018 ), Eastern European care workers (Capasso et al., 2016 ), and Jamaican police officers (Nelson & Smith, 2016 ). There are, however, limited examples where the model has been tested in its entirety (e.g., Galvin,  2016 ) and research has yet to test the full model with an occupational sample – a limitation for a work-related stress model. For example, Capasso et al. ( 2016 ) only considered the direct relationships in the DRIVE model, and Nelson and Smith ( 2016 ) did not test for moderation relationships. Galvin ( 2016 ) did conduct a full testing of the DRIVE model predictions; but only sampled student nurses and trainee clinical psychologists. Galvin’s findings were inconclusive. Specifically, although the mediating effect of perceived job stress on mental health outcomes were supported, results for other indirect effects were less conclusive. The moderation of work resources reducing the negative effects of work demands on mental health outcomes were also not fully supported, although some individual characteristics (e.g., emotion-focused coping) reduced the relationships between work demands and perceived job stress. Given Galvin’s findings were equivocal, and researchers are yet to test the full DRIVE model in an occupational sample, new research that explores all of the relationships of the model in an occupational setting is required.

Research is also needed to explore the placement of variables within the DRIVE model. Specifically, within the DRIVE model overcommitment is conceptualized as a work demand, but this is debated in the literature. Du Prel et al. ( 2018 ) found overcommitment to depend on the work environment (supporting it a ‘state’, or work-related characteristic), but it was originally conceptualized as intrinsic effort that it is stable over time (suggesting it a ‘trait’, or individual characteristic; van Vegchel et al., 2005 ). Nevertheless, the DRIVE model provides a guiding framework that enables researchers to accurately reflect and assess the stress and wellbeing process beyond a focus on PWB outcomes (Smith, 2021 ).

Research in a police context has largely focused on interactional models of work-related stress; but there is a scarcity of research which integrates Lazarus’ transactional perspective (Brough et al., 2018 ). Of the research which has provided an empirical application of Lazarus’ model of stress, Brough et al. ( 2018 ) supported the mediating role of coping between work demands and psychological outcomes in the Australian police, while Nelson and Smith ( 2016 ) supported the mediating role of appraisals in their DRIVE model informed research with the Jamaican police. Despite these findings, research from an interactional perspective is needed to provide a conceptually accurate, multi-dimensional approach to understanding work-related stress and wellbeing in the British police. To provide a holistic picture of wellbeing in policing, research needs to consider non-operational ‘staff’ as well as police officers (Jackman et al., 2020 ).

One variable that has not been considered within DRIVE model research, despite being proposed as a factor that protects against the negative physical (e.g., Wood et al., 2018 ) and psychological (e.g., Gerber et al., 2010 ) effects of stress, and improves PWB (Zhang & Chen, 2019 ), is physical activity behavior. An in-depth review of models linking stress and physical activity is beyond the scope of our paper, but most research supports a reciprocal relationship (see Stults-Kolehmainen & Sinha, 2014 ). In one direction, stress has a negative effect on subsequent physical activity (so physical activity could be included as a health outcome in the DRIVE model). Another theoretical view is that physical activity protects against adverse consequences of perceived stress, by helping individuals to cope with stress, for example (see Salmon,  2001 ). So physical activity could also be included as an individual characteristic in the DRIVE model.

Research into physical activity in police populations has tended to focus on the physical fitness required by police officers (e.g., Lagestad & van den Tillaar, 2014 ), with few studies exploring the health-protecting relationship between physical activity and psychological outcomes. Exceptions include Gerber et al.’s ( 2010 ) findings that moderate-intensity exercise protected against stress-related complaints (physical and psychological) in Swiss police officers; and, Acquadro Maran et al. ( 2018 ) noting that following a physical activity intervention perceived distress decreased, perception of wellbeing increased, and use of adaptive coping strategies increased, in Italian police officers. There is a need to better understand the interplay between physical activity, work-related stress and PWB outcomes (Hӓusser & Mojzisch, 2017 ), and apply the knowledge to policing, as there is some evidence to suggest physical activity behavior can be a resource for coping with stress in this context (e.g., Acquadro Maran et al., 2018 ; Gerber et al., 2010 ). We therefore conceptualized physical activity as an individual characteristic within the DRIVE model.

Informed by the DRIVE model, we aimed to assess factors associated with stress and PWB outcomes in British police force officers and staff. As the first study to test all DRIVE model relationships in an occupational setting, this cross-sectional research provides new knowledge about the work characteristics (e.g., work demands, work resources) and individual characteristics (e.g., physical activity) that are significant in the experience of stress in the police. We set three objectives to address our aim:

Assess the factors directly predicting PWB outcomes in police officers and staff ( direct relationships);

Assess the mediating role of perceived job stress through the indirect relationships between work characteristics and PWB outcomes ( indirect relationship);

Assess which factors moderate the relationships between work demands, perceived job stress and PWB outcomes ( moderation ).

Participants

Employees at two British police forces (Force A and B) were invited via email to complete a survey about their work and wellbeing. There were 852 respondents, a completion rate of 11.94% (Force A: N  = 658, 12.88% completion rate; Force B: N  = 194; 9.57% completion rate). There were 428 male and 413 female respondents ( M age = 41.66 years, SD  = 8.69). Participants were police officers (54.6%, N  = 465), staff (37.3%, N  = 318), and police community support officers (7.4%, N  = 63), with a mean of 4.15 years of service ( SD  = 1.68). A post-hoc G*Power (Faul et al., 2009 ) statistical power analysis indicated that with a sample size of N  = 852, 14 predictor variables, and a 0.05 criterion alpha level, the power exceeded 0.99. Therefore, the sample was sufficient to detect small ( f 2  = 0.02) effect sizes in multiple linear regressions (see Cohen,  1988 ).

We next provide a justification for the variable selection in our research and detail the items and measures selected (see Fig.  1 for selected variables). For work demands, we included: demands; effort; change consultations and overcommitment. For work resources, we used: reward; control; support and supervisor relations. These demands and resources are recognized as key work-related stress factors across multiple occupations (see Cox & Griffiths,  2010 ), with change practices and supervisor relationships deemed central to police wellbeing (Hesketh, 2015 ). Nelson and Smith ( 2016 ) suggested that research on work-related stress should consider the work-life interface. Therefore, perceived life satisfaction and life stress were measured as variables which individuals bring with them to work that potentially influence their workplace wellbeing. Physical activity behavior was included as an individual characteristic that benefits PWB (Zhang & Chen, 2019 ) and might influence the experience of work-related stress (Hӓusser & Mojzisch, 2017 ).

Work-related stress and wellbeing process

The WPQ was used to measure work demands (demands, effort, overcommitment, change consultations), work resources (control, reward, support, supervisor relations), perceived job stress, life satisfaction, life stress, and PWB outcomes (anxiety, depression, job satisfaction, negative mood, positive mood). Williams ( 2014 ) demonstrated reliability using the Wanous method, and discriminant and concurrent validity against multi-item measures for all items of the WPQ. Participants rated their WPQ responses on an 11-point Likert scale, ranging from 0 ( strongly disagree ) to 10 ( strongly agree ) for items worded as statements. For example, for overcommitment: “I find it difficult to withdraw from my work obligations ( for example: work is always on my mind, I find it difficult to relax when I get home from work, people close to me say I sacrifice too much for my job )”. Items formed as questions had response scales ranging from 0 ( not at all ) to 10 ( extremely ). For example, for depression: “How depressed would you say you are in general? (for example: feeling ‘down’, no longer looking forward to things or enjoying things that you used to )”. No items were reverse scored, so a high score reflected a presence of the relevant construct.

Physical activity behavior

The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Long (IPAQ; Booth,  2000 ) was used to measure physical activity behavior. The IPAQ has demonstrated high repeatability, concurrent, and criterion validity (e.g., Craig et al., 2003 ). Over 27 questions, five physical activity domains were assessed using metabolic equivalent minutes (MET): leisure; domestic and gardening; work-related; transport-related; and sitting. To calculate MET minutes, participants were asked on how many days per week and how much time per day, they performed at least 10 continuous minutes of walking, moderate, or vigorous physical activity over the last seven days. In line with previous research (e.g., Craig et al., 2003 ), and National Health Service guidance (NHS, 2015 ), total MET minute scores were used to categorize the sample into low (< 600 MET minutes/week), moderate (600 to 3000 MET minutes/week), and high physical activity (3000 MET minutes/week) groups.

Police specific stress

The Police Stress Questionnaire (McCreary & Thompson, 2006 ) assessed participants’ perception of police specific stressors as some police specific contextual factors were not captured in the WPQ (cf. Mark & Smith, 2008 ). McCreary and Thompson ( 2006 ) reported high reliability and discriminant validity with general stress measures and two measures of police specific stress; the Police Stress Questionnaire – Operational (PSQ-Op), and the Police Stress Questionnaire – Organizational (PSQ-Org). The PSQ-Op includes 20 items describing different work stressors specific to operational policing (e.g., “Working alone at night”; α = 0.95). The PSQ-Org consists of 20 items describing different organizational stressors relevant to policing (e.g., “Inconsistent leadership style”; α = 0.96). Participants indicated how much stress each factor had caused them over the past six months on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 ( no stress at all ) to 7 ( a lot of stress ). A mean was calculated for overall operational and organizational stress scores.

Ethical approval was granted by the lead author’s University’s Research Ethics Committee (reference: 16.10.O3S) and informed consent was obtained from all participants. Data were collected through online surveys.

Data analysis

Analyses were conducted using the IBM SPSS 27 package. First, correlational analyses were used to examine the relationships between variables for assumption checking. Linear regression analyses were then used to test the direct relationships in the DRIVE model to determine which factors were contributing to police PWB (objective 1). For example, relationship 1 predicts work demands and work resources significantly relate to PWB outcomes. Prior to running any regression analyses, data were screened for outliers, multicollinearity, linearity, homoscedasticity, and normal distribution of residuals (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2014 ). The physical activity behavior variable was re-coded into a dummy variable (low, moderate, high) for inclusion in the regression models (Field, 2009 ).

The indirect relationships in the DRIVE model were tested using the PROCESS SPSS custom dialog (Hayes, 2018 ). Mediation analyses were conducted to test the mediating role of perceived job stress through the indirect relationships between work characteristics and PWB outcomes (relationship 4; objective 2). Parallel multiple mediation was used to simultaneously assess the role of the three work stress variables (perceived job stress, operational stress, organizational stress) as mediators. To estimate the significance of the indirect relationships, we used percentile bootstrap confidence intervals (based on 5000 samples and PROCESS model 4; Hayes,  2018 ), with seed 5235 for the random number generator. To estimate effect sizes of the indirect relationship, completely standardized effects c’ cs were used (Hayes, 2018 ). These are reported in tables only, as there are not yet appropriate benchmarks to interpret the size of effect (Lachowicz et al., 2018 ).

Moderation analyses were conducted to test objective 3. For example, DRIVE model relationship 10 predicted that individual characteristics would moderate the relationships between work demands and perceived job stress. To test these relationships, work resources and individual characteristics (personal demands and resources) were included as potential moderators in separate moderation analyses (based on 5000 samples and PROCESS model 1; Hayes,  2018 ), as depicted in the DRIVE model. To understand the interaction for any significant moderators, we probed the interaction at low, medium, and high levels of the moderator. Levels were determined by 16th, 50th and 84th percentiles, except for the categorical physical activity behavior variable (see measures). To estimate effect sizes of the linear regression analyses and moderation analyses, R 2 were reported in the main findings (small = 0.14; medium = 0.39; large = 0.59; Cohen,  1988 ).

Assumption checking, descriptive statistics and correlational analyses

All predictor variables demonstrated acceptable tolerance (> 0.1) and VIF (< 10) values, and correlation values below 0.80 indicating no multicolinearity (Field, 2009 ). Linearity and homoscedascity were assessed through visual inspection of scatterplots and did not show curvilinear relationships. Boxplots indicated that the independence of errors assumption had not been violated, but that there were four significant outliers on the support variable. As the outliers came from the intended sample population, they were retained (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2014 ). The Shapiro-Wilks test of normality indicated some variables were not normally distributed, mainly due to high kurtosis. No corrections were made as kurtosis effects are diminished in samples of over 200 (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2014 ). As significant differences emerged across PWB outcomes for: age, F (24,2430) = 3.47, p  < .001; gender, F (8,810) = 8.07, p  < .001; and role, F (24,2451) = 2.90, p  < .001 these demographic variables were entered into all analyses as covariates. Descriptive statistics of, and Pearson’s correlations between, continuous variables are provided in Table  1 .

Direct relationships

All direct relationships were supported (see Table  3 and supplement file 1 ).

Direct relationships of work characteristics

Work characteristics were significant predictors of PWB outcomes ( R 2  = .21 − .40, p s < .01; relationship 1) and perceived job stress ( R 2  = .05 − .40, p s < .05; relationship 2), Specifically, when perceived work demands (demands, effort, change consultations, overcommitment) increased, PWB outcomes deteriorated and perceived job stress increased. When perceived work resources (reward, control, support, supervisor relations) increased, PWB outcomes improved and perceived job stress decreased. Overall, change consultations and reward were significant predictors of all PWB outcomes (relationship 1). For example, when perceived change consultations increased, anxiety increased ( β  = .11, p  < .01), while increased perception of reward decreased the anxiety experienced ( β = − .13, p  < .01). Perception of work demands ( β  = .15, p  < .01), and overcommitment ( β  = .29, p  < .01) were also significant predictors of anxiety.

For relationship 2, overcommitment was the only work characteristic that was a significant predictor of perceived job stress and organizational stress. For example, when perceived overcommitment increased, perceived organizational stress increased ( β  = .08, p  < .05). Perceived control was the only work resource that was a significant predictor of perceived job stress; increased perceptions of control decreased the stress experienced. No work characteristics significantly predicted operational stress (see supplement file 1 ).

Direct relationships of individual characteristics

Individual characteristics (physical activity behavior, life satisfaction, life stress) accounted for more variance in the prediction of PWB outcomes ( R 2  = .20 − .30, p s < .01; relationship 9), than in the prediction of perceived job stress ( R 2  = .06 − 0.10, p s < .05; relationship 8). Perceived life satisfaction and life stress significantly predicted of PWB outcomes (relationship 9). Specifically, when perceived life satisfaction increased, PWB outcomes improved, but when perceived life stress increased, PWB outcomes deteriorated. Physical activity was also a significant predictor of positive mood, as highly physically active individuals perceived higher positive mood than those low in physical activity (see supplement file 1 ). No individual characteristics significantly predicted organizational stress or operational stress (relationship 8).

Direct relationships of stress

Perceived job stress and organizational stress were significant predictors of PWB outcomes ( R 2  = .11 − .16, p s < .01; relationship 3). When perceived job stress and organizational stress increased, PWB deteriorated. Operational stress did not significantly predict PWB outcomes (see supplement file 1 ).

Indirect relationship

A series of parallel multiple mediation analyses were conducted (see supplement file 2 ). Perceived job stress significantly mediated the relationships between work demands (demands, effort, overcommitment) and PWB outcomes, and supported the DRIVE model mediation relationship (relationship 4). For mediation to be observed, work characteristics must be found to indirectly relate to PWB outcomes through the perception of job stress, although work characteristics can still directly relate to PWB outcomes. For example, the direct relationship between overcommitment and anxiety was significant; when perceived overcommitment increased, anxiety increased ( c’ = .24, 95% CI [.18, .32]; see Table  2 ). However, the indirect relationship from overcommitment to anxiety via perceived job stress was also significant ( a 1 b 1   =  .04, 95% CI [.02, .06]). When perceived overcommitment increased, perceived job stress increased ( a 1 ), which increased the anxiety experienced ( b 1 ). Therefore, as the perception of overcommitment increased, anxiety increased both directly, and indirectly through the increased perception of job stress. Change consultations was the only work demand which was not significantly indirectly related to PWB outcomes through perceived job stress (all 95% CI included zero). In comparison, control was the only work resource which was significantly indirectly related to PWB outcomes through perceived job stress. When perceived control increased, perceived job stress decreased ( a 1 ), which improved PWB outcomes ( b 1 ). All 95% CI did not include zero. Therefore, perceived job stress significantly mediated the relationships between demands, effort, overcommitment, and control, and PWB outcomes.

A series of moderation analysis were conducted (see supplement file 3 ). Although all moderation relationships in the DRIVE model were supported to some extent, most examples of significant moderation involved work resources moderating the relationships between work demands and perceived job stress (relationship 5), and individual characteristics moderating the relationships between work demands and PWB outcomes (relationship 11). The largest effect sizes observed in the moderation analyses were through individual characteristics moderating the relationships between work demands and PWB outcomes ( R 2  = .25 − .46, p s < .01; relationship 11).

Work resources as moderators

Work resources (reward, control, support, supervisor relations) significantly moderated the relationships between work demands and perceived job stress (relationship 5). For example, perceived support was a significant moderator of the relationship between demands and operational stress ( R 2  = .12; see Fig.  2 ). At low perceived support, the relationship between perceived demands and operational stress was not significant. At high perceived support, the relationship between perceived demands and operational stress was significant. Specifically, as perception of demands increased, operational stress decreased ( β = − .07, t = -2.12, p  < .05). This suggests that higher levels of perceived social support from colleagues improved the relationship between demands and operational stress. Work resources did not significantly moderate any relationships between work demands and organizational stress (relationship 5) or between organizational stress and PWB outcomes (relationship 7). Supervisor relations was the only work resource that significantly moderated the relationships between overcommitment and PWB outcomes ( R 2  = .20; relationship 6, see Fig.  3 ). The positive relationship between perceived overcommitment and negative mood was significant at all levels of perceived supervisor relations, but greater at higher supervisor relations. Specifically, as perception of overcommitment increased, negative mood increased (high: β  = .26, t  = 5.97, p  < .01; medium: β  = .20, t  = 5.87, p  < .01; low: β  = .14, t  = 3.01, p  < .01). Therefore, perceiving higher work resource (supervisor relations) did not improve the relationship between work demands (overcommitment) and negative mood.

Support as a moderator of the relationship between demands and operational stress

Supervisor relations as a moderator of the relationship between overcommitment and negative mood

Individual characteristics as moderators

Individual characteristics (physical activity behavior, perceived life stress) significantly moderated the relationships between work demands and PWB outcomes (relationship 11, see supplement file 3 ). Specifically, where physical activity was high, perception of demands decreased and PWB outcomes improved. In comparison, where perceived life stress was high, perception of demands increased and PWB outcomes deteriorated. Perceived life satisfaction was not significant in any moderation relationships, but physical activity behavior and perceived life stress significantly moderated all DRIVE model relationships (relationships 10, 11 and 12, see supplement file 3 ). For example, physical activity significantly moderated the relationship between organizational stress and depression ( R 2  = .13; relationship 12, see Fig.  4 ). At low physical activity, there was a significant positive relationship between organizational stress and depression; as perception of organizational stress increased, depression increased ( β  = .51, t  = 2.81, p  < .01). At moderate and high physical activity, the relationship between organizational stress and depression was not significant. Therefore, higher physical activity reduced the relationship between organizational stress and depression.

Physical activity as a moderator of the relationship between organizational stress and depression

We used the DRIVE model to assess: factors that directly predicted PWB outcomes (objective 1); the indirect relationships between work characteristics and PWB outcomes through perceived job stress (objective 2); which variables moderated the relationships between work demands, perceived job stress and PWB outcomes (objective 3) in a police context. All direct relationships, and some indirect and moderation relationships were supported, evidencing the utility of the DRIVE model to inform work-related stress inquiry (see Table  3 ).

Parallel multiple mediation analyses supported the explanatory mechanism in the DRIVE model, as the relationships between work demands and PWB outcomes were indirectly related through perceived job stress. This evidenced how appraisals play a critical role within the experience of work-related stress (Mark & Smith, 2008 ). Moderations were mostly due to work resources moderating the relationships between work demands and perceived job stress, and individual characteristics (physical activity behavior and perceived life stress) moderating the relationships between work demands and PWB outcomes. This supported the multi-dimensional approach to workplace wellbeing advocated by Mark and Smith ( 2008 ), as work and individual characteristics (direct relationships, moderation), and perceived job stress (indirect relationships) were all significant in the experience of work-related stress. Small to large effect sizes were observed in all of the DRIVE model relationships. The largest effect sizes observed were for individual characteristics as moderators of the relationships between work demands and PWB outcomes (relationship 11). The smallest effect sizes were for work resources as moderators of the relationships between work demands and perceived job stress (relationship 5). Research with small sample sizes might not detect these relationships, which might explain why previous DRIVE model research has not supported these relationships (Margrove & Smith, 2022 ). However, our sample was large, and supports the consideration of individual characteristics in workplace wellbeing – which is often overlooked. Holistically, our findings illustrate the importance of integrating multiple factors and interactional relationships between variables to represent the complex real-life situation in work-related stress (Brough et al., 2018 ; Galvin, 2016 ).

Conceptual implications

Our research was the first to test all 12 DRIVE model relationships within any occupational context, and the first to do so within a policing context. Previous research has applied the model in other student or trainee groups (e.g., Galvin,  2016 ), or only focused on the direct and mediation relationships in a police context (Nelson & Smith, 2016 ). Our research adds new knowledge by providing information on the contribution of different work and individual characteristics in the prediction of perceived job stress and PWB outcomes. We found that increased perception of all work demands increased perceived stress, but increased perception of control was the only work resource which significantly decreased the perception of stress (relationship 2). These findings add further support to the positive association of perception of control within stressful contexts (see Schaufeli & Taris,  2014 ).

The finding that work characteristics and PWB outcomes were indirectly related through perceived job stress (relationship 4) evidences the central tenet of transactional work-related stress theories and emphasizes how cognitive appraisals act as an underlying mechanism between work characteristics and PWB outcomes (Nelson & Smith, 2016 ). Specifically, if work demands are present and perceived as stressful then they can be detrimental to PWB outcomes. This provides an initial explanation for why work characteristics are related to PWB, supporting calls to explore underlying mechanisms and go beyond only assessing work characteristics (Brough et al., 2018 ).

We found some support for work resources as moderators (objective 3); mostly in relation to improving the relationships between work demands and perceived job stress (relationship 5). For example, high perceived support reduced the negative relationship between work demands and operational stress (see Fig.  2 ) with similar findings observed for reward and control as moderators. Research in a nursing context has also indicated social support can reduce the relationship between work demands and anxiety (Zurlo et al., 2018 ). Collectively, such findings indicate social support is a fundamental dimension for keeping mental health stable; and in line with Lazarus’ stress and coping perspective, we suggest that if social support is perceived to be available, then demands might not be perceived as stressful (see Lakey & Cohen,  2000 ). Individual characteristics also moderated the relationships between work demands and PWB outcomes (relationship 11). Higher physical activity improved PWB outcomes whereas, higher perceived life stress deteriorated PWB outcomes. Ours is one of only a few studies to consider and support the inclusion of physical activity as a moderator variable in the study of work-related stress and PWB (Häusser & Mojzich, 2017 ).

Practical implications

Using the DRIVE model allowed identification of the individual (personal) and organizational (work) characteristics that directly predicted perceived job stress and PWB outcomes, which, in turn, informs options for intervention. Of the work demands considered, perceptions of overcommitment were a significant predictor of increased perceived job stress and organizational stress. Therefore, police forces could develop practices aimed at reducing perceptions of overcommitment. Overcommitment relates to the need for approval and perceived ability to withdraw from work (see van Vegchel et al., 2005 ). Consequently, supervisors could be coached to monitor staff efforts, provide positive feedback and offer reassurance that they are allowed to ‘switch off’. Of the work resources, perceived reward was a significant predictor across all PWB outcomes, and perceived control was a significant predictor of decreased perceived job stress. Research in US policing has suggested organizational practices that increase reward help reduce overcommitment (Violanti et al., 2018 ). People typically join the police to fulfil a lifetime aspiration, and to make a difference to those in need (Duran et al., 2018 ). Therefore, in a demanding and stressful job, social reward or recognition might help police feel valued for their work and avoid over-working in the search for recognition. Social reward could come from the organization acknowledging individual and/or team accomplishments (Violanti et al., 2018 ), or from the public informing police workers when they have had positive outcomes following engagement with the police (Carlson-Johnson et al., 2020 ).

Our research supported the proposition within the DRIVE model that perceived job stress is one way by which work characteristics were related to health outcomes. Therefore, where work characteristics cannot be changed it might be worthwhile targeting perceptions of stress to indirectly improve health outcomes. Most interventions within the police sector are aimed at modifying an individual’s stress responses through targeting appraisals, rather than reducing the stressors encountered (LaMontagne et al., 2016 ). For example, mindfulness-based interventions that focus on restructuring appraisals could be of benefit; especially given that such interventions have been previously reported to significantly reduce operational and organizational stress in the police (Bergman et al., 2016 ). Within our research, change consultations was the only work demand not mediated by perceived job stress, and only had a direct relationship with PWB outcomes. Irrespective of whether individuals’ perceived the organizational changes as stressful, it was negatively related to PWB. Consequently, primary interventions aimed at developing a suitable communication strategy might be most appropriate in addressing organizational change. It is important that workers understand the impact of new work arrangements, and that there is open communication regarding the changes, in order to combat the wellbeing risks (Weinberg & Doyle, 2017 ).

Our findings indicated that when individuals perceived high social support, perception of work demands decreased. These findings, coupled with other social support research in a police context (e.g., Jackman et al., 2020 ), imply that police forces should promote support seeking cultures and increase awareness of the support systems available. Although we reinforce these implications, our findings showed that perceiving higher supervisor relations did not improve the relationship between overcommitment and negative mood. Based on all of the recommendations, a tailored supervisor training package seems appropriate. Supervisors could receive specific training to help understand the complexities of social support, monitoring overcommitment and offering reward, before police forces encourage a support seeking culture that they are not ready to provide.

For individuals who met or exceeded NHS ( 2015 ) guidelines for physical activity (i.e., moderate and high physical activity), no significant relationship between organizational stress and depression was found. However, for those low in physical activity, as perception of organizational stress increased depression also increased. Therefore, meeting the daily guidelines for physical activity was a protective factor against work-related stress experiences (cf., Gerber et al., 2010 ). These results suggest interventions that increase physical activity could be useful in improving PWB within a police context.

Strengths, Limitations and future directions

Our study has considered a multi-dimensional approach to understanding work-related stress in policing, providing insight into the work and individual characteristics that were associated with PWB. Underpinned by the DRIVE model, we provided a conceptually accurate assessment of work-related stress with a rare integration of interactional and transactional perspectives using a large-scale and rigorous statistical analysis that tested the DRIVE model in its entirety. The study was the first to do so in an occupational setting. Our novel sample and holistic approach enabled us to highlight the role perception of job stress plays as an underlying mechanism for stress, answering calls for research that is designed to cater for the complexities of the stress process and thus advance the field (Brough et al., 2018 ). Our inclusion of physical activity, and our finding that physical activity acted as a moderator within the analyses provides new knowledge that helps to further connect the physical activity and occupational health psychology bodies of research.

Although implications for the work-related stress literature and police forces are evident, there are limitations to our research. The use of cross-sectional data limits our ability to infer causation and test the causal aspects of the DRIVE model. Further research using longitudinal studies could advance our work by informing whether work characteristics, perceived job stress and PWB outcomes mutually influence each other, or have unidirectional causal relationships. Other modelling approaches (e.g., structural equation modelling) could be used in future research to test more complex relationships (e.g., reciprocal and causal) between variables in the DRIVE model and overcome some of the limitations of our regression-based approach.

We used the DRIVE model to assess relationships between variables in the experience of work-related stress. In line with some studies that have utilized the DRIVE model, future research could build on our findings and use a combined effects approach. Studies have used the combined effects approach to compare the predictive power of DRIVE model variables (see Smith 2021 ). However, this approach did not align with our research aim and objectives to assess individual relationships, and our findings supported the notion that individual work-related stress variables had different relationships with PWB outcomes. As another future direction, a qualitative approach could provide greater clarity on the role of physical activity. The measures we used provided limited insight into why physical activity protected against some of the negative effects of stress. Given the physical activity findings, it will be important to explore these relationships further to inform practical implications and help police forces to foster a proactive and preventative approach to stress (Gerber et al., 2010 ).

Using the DRIVE model of work-related stress to inform our enquiry, we assessed the factors influencing PWB in two British police forces. Increased perception of reward and control directly predicted deceased perception of job stress and improved PWB outcomes, whereas increased perception of overcommitment directly predicted increased perception of job stress and deteriorated PWB outcomes. Work characteristics and PWB outcomes were found to be indirectly related through perceived job stress, supporting that appraisals are an underlying mechanism in the experience of work-related stress. The perception of reward, control, support and moderate-high physical activity moderated the relationships between work demands, perceived job stress and PWB outcomes and protect against the negative effects of stress. These findings provided useful implications; specifically, police forces could aim to: change perceptions of stress; offer training packages for supervisors to support PWB; and/or use physical activity to foster a preventative approach to work-related stress. Future research should explore qualitative enquiry and conduct longitudinal research to inform the direction of causality in the relationships identified.

Data availability

The codebook and dataset are openly available on Figshare: Oliver, Helen (2022): Dataset Study 1 (Stress and psychological wellbeing in British police force officers and staff). Cardiff Metropolitan University. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.25401/cardiffmet.19123148.v2 .

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Oliver, H., Thomas, O., Neil, R. et al. Stress and psychological wellbeing in british police force officers and staff. Curr Psychol 42 , 29291–29304 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03903-4

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Occupational stress in policing: What the research says and what leaders can do about it

Police leaders must recognize the importance of a physically and mentally healthy workforce and address occupational stress among personnel.

The literature indicates that organizational, operational and personal factors such as work environment and external support systems contribute to or exacerbate, occupational stress.

Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media

For additional resources on officer wellness, download Smash the stigma: Building a culture that supports officer wellness .

By Richard Segovia, Ed.D.

Police work is stressful, and law enforcement officers are indoctrinated to high levels of stress at the onset of their careers, and beyond. It is vital that officers maintain their mental wellness for their own safety and for the safety of their community. There is a direct correlation between officer wellness and public safety; police agencies and communities benefit from healthy officers. It is therefore a police leader’s duty to recognize the importance of a physically and mentally healthy workforce, and their ethical obligation to address occupational stress among staff.

To explore the effects of policing on occupational stress, this article provides a contemporary analysis of scholarly research and web sources that examine contributing factors to police occupational stress; the impact stress has on an officer, their agency and their communities; and strategies police leaders employ to mitigate workforce stressors.

Unsurprisingly, the literature indicates that organizational, operational and personal factors such as work environment and external support systems contribute to or exacerbate, occupational stress.

Literature review

The literature and research regarding police stress are considerable, and the reviewed literature in this article offers three global perspectives on the topic. First, is a study on occupational stress from Turin, Italy, that examines stress levels and anxiety at a large metropolitan police agency. Second, scholars at the University of Toronto analyzed the effect of stress and trauma on officer wellness in British Columbia, Canada. Third, American researchers studied factors that affect stress among law enforcement officers in New York state.

Occupational stress in Italy

In an occupational medicine journal on police stress, anxiety and coping strategies, researchers at Universita di Tornio suggest that occupational stress among law enforcement officers is related to the deterioration of their psychological health and social welfare. [1] Researchers used questionnaires and a Distress Thermometer (a rating scale used to measure stress) to capture stress data, assess stressors and evaluate the coping strategies of 617 Italian police officers. The study identified stress differences between male and female officers, with men experiencing more organizational stress and women experiencing more operational stress.

According to researchers, examples of organizational stress include long hours, changes in duties and role conflict. [2] On the other hand, operational stress might include being exposed to human suffering or violent situations. [1]

Despite the stress experienced by both genders, each exhibited effective stress coping strategies. Namely, gaining social, emotional, instrumental, and behavioral support. Other positive coping strategies include self-distraction, active coping, positive reframing, and acceptance. Researchers concluded that training and support were critical to navigating the rigors of police work and how gender, position and assignment are associated with a particular stressor.

Resiliency in British Columbia

In 2015, an article in a scholarly law enforcement journal on police resiliency analyzed the connection between training and elasticity – defined as an officer’s ability to stretch mentally and physically stretch themselves to the point before breaking – among 297 law enforcement officers in British Columbia, Canada. [3] Specifically, researchers examined how mental preparedness techniques might mitigate stressors officers face and the benefits these techniques have on officers and policy-makers. The study concluded that trauma could result from an officer’s exposure to stress. Moreover, the trauma officers are susceptible to can be physically and psychologically damaging. A proactive approach to addressing potential stress is critical to mitigating physical and psychological trauma while promoting an officer’s overall well-being.

Researchers concluded that post-stress treatment is less effective than pre-stress treatment. Researchers assert that a proactive approach and investment in mental preparedness techniques are vital to longevity and stress management in policing.

Coping with stress in New York

A 2018 article studied the work-stress axis among police officers. [4] Researchers used data from 594 peace officers across 21 different New York state law enforcement agencies to study factors that affect officer stress. Specifically, researchers determined occupation stress was influenced by variables including demographics, education level, rank, tenure, internal and external factors, support systems and cumulative stress. Other factors included lack of a support system, pre susceptibility to stress and preexisting physical, mental and emotional conditions. Moreover, agencies with counseling services positively influenced how officers cope with stress, resulting in improved welfare and elasticity. Researchers concluded that officers who employ stress coping techniques are more effective in reducing and managing stress.

Media Analysis

A number of other sources offer anecdotal and data-driven evidence regarding police stress. Notably, information from web sources is considerable, and an analysis of three web-based articles from reputable professional sources offers perspective.

Healthy officers are healthy communities

A publication from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) on officer wellness concluded that healthy officers in healthy communities are interrelated. [5] The study showed that policies such as wellness training, fitness programs and peer support help officers adopt healthy lifestyles and mitigate occupational stress.

Stress leads to physical and mental complications

A 2008 study from the University of Buffalo suggests that pressures experienced by law enforcement officers are precursors to many physical and mental health complications, including heart disease and post-traumatic stress disorder. [6]

The online article also cites a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) study that measured officer stress. The NIJ study found that officers over 40 years old have a higher chance of experiencing cardiac issues, and the unpredictable and dangerous nature of police work is psychologically demanding to officers. Like the study in British Columbia, researchers at the University of Buffalo concluded that early intervention might assist officers in handling the stressors of policing, thereby limiting the physical and psychological damage caused by trauma.

Mental preparedness techniques help officers deal with stress by visualizing preparation measures, thereby reducing the effects of critical events and incidents.

In her article How Police Can Reduce and Manage Stress , Michelle L. Beshears, Ph.D., highlights the types and causalities of work-related and individual stressors, such as poor management, shift work and changes in duties. [7] The article discusses the consequences of stress, such as PTSD, reduced efficiency and physical health problems, while illustrating the importance of stress reduction and management strategies.

Improvement strategies

The literature on police stress indicates that occupational stress is concerning to law enforcement leaders, line-level officers and community members. Coping strategies that mitigate stressors vary depending on the programs and policies of a particular law enforcement agency. [8-10] Here are a few research-based strategies leaders can consider implementing to lessen officer stressors in the workplace:

• Formal fitness and wellness programs: Physical fitness decreases the risk that first responders succumb to job-related physical and mental health issues. [11] In their systematic review, MacMillan et al. determined that organizations with structured health intervention programs had better health-related results compared to organizations that do not have such programs.
• Implement wellness policies: Wellness and self-care policies that address social support and healthy lifestyles are critical to an effective and healthy workforce. Policies based on quantitative and qualitative studies reduce occupational risk, stress and unhealthy lifestyles among police officers [12]. Accordingly, another strategy that might mitigate stress among officers is the implementation of wellness policies throughout the law enforcement community.
• Incorporate family support: Family members play a critical role in stress management for police officers, and unstable family support results in work-family conflicts, which adversely affects an officer’s physical and mental well-being. Although officers are trained and equipped to handle these situations, researchers assert that familial support alleviates potential work and family-related conflicts. [13-15] It is logical for law enforcement leaders to develop policies and programs that incorporate familial support to help improve officer stress.

Organizational, operational, and personal factors contribute to occupational stress, and research indicates a positive correlation between improved public safety and officer wellness. Police wellness policies and programs positively impact the officer, their agency and the communities they serve. Business ethics and federal statutes suggest that employers have a moral and legal obligation to protect their employees and provide them with as safe a work environment as possible. OHSA is the guiding statute on all things workplace safety from a legal perspective. Ethically, researchers assert that business executives take workplace safety and employee health very seriously and suggest that leaders have a moral obligation to ensure the health and well-being of their workforce. [16]

Police leaders are faced with a cost conundrum: their obligation to provide a reasonably safe working environment through wellness policies, and the cost of implementing those policies. Law enforcement leaders face a choice between the financial cost or public safety cost, and there’s no straightforward answer. However, proper budgeting and outreach to philanthropies and corporations can help offset financial burdens to agencies. [13] In the end, today’s police leaders must acknowledge the importance of mitigating occupational stress and establish wellness programs to help officers cope with their stressors.

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2. Cohen IM, McCormick AV, Rich B. (2019). Creating a Culture of Police Officer Wellness. Policing, 13(2), 213–229.

3. Andersen JP, Papazoglou K, Nyman M, Koskelainen M, Gustafsberg H. (2015). Fostering resilience among police.

4. Tsai LC, Nolasco C, Vaughn MS. (2018). Modeling job stress among police officers: Interplay of work environment, counseling support, and family discussion with co-workers. Police Practice and Research, 19(3).

5. Practices in Modern Policing: Officer Safety and Wellness. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.theiacp.org/sites/default/files/2018-11/IACP_PMP_SafetyandWellness.pdf

6. University at Buffalo. (2008). Impact of Stress On Police Officers’ Physical And Mental Health. ScienceDaily.

7. Beshears M. How police can reduce and manage stress. Police1.

8. Hickman MJ, Fricas J, Strom KJ, Pope MW. (2011). Mapping Police Stress. Police Quarterly, 14(3), 227–250.

9. Burke R. (Ed.). (2017). Stress in Policing. London: Routledge.

10. Bano B, Talib P. (2017). Understanding police stress towards a secure and sustainable society. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 19(3), 159-170.

11. MacMillan F, Karamacoska D, El Masri A, McBride KA, Steiner GZ, Cook A, George ES. (2017). A systematic review of health promotion intervention studies in the police force: Study characteristics, intervention design and impacts on health. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 74(12), 913.

12. Kuehl KS, Elliot DL, MacKinnon DP, O’Rourke HP, DeFrancesco C, Miočević M, Kuehl H. (2016). The SHIELD (safety & health improvement: Enhancing law enforcement departments) study: Mixed methods longitudinal findings. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 58(5), 492-498.

13. Griffin JD, Sun IY. (2018). Do work-family conflict and resiliency mediate police stress and burnout: A study of state police officers. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 43(2), 354-370.

14. Kinman G, McDowall A, Cropley M. (2012). Work-family conflict and job-related wellbeing in UK police officers: The role of recovery strategies. In Proceedings from Institute of Work Psychology International Conference: Work, Wellbeing and Performance, Sheffield.

15. Ola M, Mathur R. (2016). The convergent and divergent impact of work environment, work-family conflict, and stress coping mechanisms on female and male police officers. International Journal of Education & Management Studies, 6(1), 19–24.

16. Jesper H, Huhtamäki F, Dennis S. (2022). Ruthless Exploiters or Ethical Guardians of the Workforce? Powerful CEOs and their Impact on Workplace Safety and Health: JBE. Journal of Business Ethics, 177(3), 641-663.

About the author

Dr. Richard “Rich” Segovia served with law enforcement for over 29 years at the local and state levels. He worked in several areas throughout his career, including patrol operations, investigations, training, and other specialized assignments. Rich is currently with the Texas Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General Special Investigations Group and serves as an Adjunct Professor/Dissertation Chair with Liberty University. He is a certified California and Texas law enforcement instructor with robust instructional experience. Rich earned a bachelor’s degree in business management, a master’s degree in management and leadership, an MBA, an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, and a Ph.D. in Advanced Educational Studies.

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Fighting Stress in the Law Enforcement Community

Be it an officer patrolling a high-crime neighborhood in a big city, a small-town cop responding to a bar fight, or a homicide detective arriving at the scene of a multiple murder, the common factor in their jobs is stress. They work in environments where bad things happen.

The same is true of corrections officers — the men and women who work in prisons, often with thousands of convicted criminals who do not want to be there. Corrections officers work in confined societies that are, by definition, dangerous. The stress levels are so high that, in one study, 27 percent of officers reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). [1]

NIJ has a long history of supporting research related to stress for law enforcement personnel, but in 2016, NIJ’s experts determined that a coordinated research agenda was needed to better respond to this long-standing issue. As a result, NIJ developed the Safety, Health, and Wellness Strategic Research Plan to describe its current and projected efforts to promote the safety, health, and wellness of individuals who work in or are affected by the criminal justice system. What is unique in the plan is that it calls for science-based tools to measure and monitor physical and mental health. [2]

The plan, which will continue through 2021, focuses on three populations within the criminal justice system and includes those who are employed by, under the supervision of, or interact with the system. The plan states that “the focus on stress, trauma, and suicide and self-harm prevention cuts across demographic areas highlighting the importance of promoting research of these topics within the criminal justice system.”

Early Studies

This emphasis on health and wellness builds on earlier NIJ studies, such as a 1996 project to develop a law enforcement stress program for officers and their families. That report, based on nearly 100 interviews with mental health experts, police administrators, and officers, provided “pragmatic suggestions that can help every police or sheriff’s department reduce the debilitating stress that so many officers experience.” [3]

A 2000 NIJ-supported project looked at the high stress among corrections officers and noted that, in addition to understaffing, overtime, shiftwork, and a poor public image, the officers faced work-related stress that included the “threat of inmate violence and actual inmate violence.” The report said that many corrections officers “do not answer their home telephones because it might be the institution calling for overtime.” [4]

In 2005, the Police Foundation focused on how shiftwork affects police officers, which continues to be a serious issue throughout law enforcement. That NIJ-supported study looked at the length of shifts, the impact of double shifts, and other factors that lead to fatigue and physical problems for law enforcement personnel. [5]

A 2012 NIJ-supported study on shiftwork and fatigue concluded that shiftwork not only increases stress but also leads to sleep problems, obesity, heart problems, sleep apnea, and an increase in the number of officers who snore. That study, by John Violanti with the School of Public Health at the State University of New York at Buffalo, also found a link between PTSD and increased rates of depression and suicide. “Mediation of brain processes due to sleep deprivation and fatigue may also impact suicidal thinking,” Violanti’s report said. [6]

Although many of these early studies were important, they were not part of a coordinated NIJ agenda to systematically study the impact of stress on health and wellness.

“So NIJ’s scientists came together in 2016 using taxonomy from the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control to articulate a health and safety strategic plan,” said William Ford, director of the research division in NIJ’s Office of Science and Technology.

The focus on using scientific tools to obtain physical markers for stress and fatigue is new to studies of law enforcement, Ford said, “and we want to create data for other research down the line. We want to translate the body of research related to stress so it is applicable to the criminal justice community.”

Overcoming the “Tough Guy” Culture

A major hurdle in working with police and corrections officers on issues of physical and mental health is the “tough guy” attitude common in law enforcement. When researchers approach officers and ask about alcoholism, divorce, suicide, and other problems that are widespread in law enforcement, they do not want to talk about the issues on a personal level because it could damage their careers.

That was true when the earlier studies were done and it is true today, said Brett Chapman, a social science analyst in NIJ’s Office of Research and Evaluation. To overcome the resistance to programs that many in law enforcement see as indications of personal weakness, “you have to emphasize these programs in the police academy,” Chapman said.

In work that he has done with police departments, Chapman said that the more successful health and wellness programs were held at sites away from the departments “because officers are not going to go if it is at the department. If you show any indication that you’re under stress or anything like that, it could impact your career.”

When dealing with stress, officers typically say, “I’m going to control it and not let it control me,” Chapman said. “The next thing you know, divorce, alcohol use, drug use, and other problems start to occur.”

So, while officers — both men and women — are telling themselves how tough they are, their stress-related health problems inevitably begin. “Whether it’s obesity, or [a] cardio problem, or all of the other problems, they accumulate,” Chapman said.

See "The Stress of an On-The-Job Killing"

NIJ’s Strategic Research Agenda

When the strategic plan was instituted in 2016, several existing NIJ research grants supported its goals, including the University of Chicago study titled Law Enforcement Officers Safety and Wellness: A Multi-Level Study, which is still underway. It includes a two-stage survey of more than 1,000 personnel from law enforcement agencies to determine what is being done and what factors are at play in officer safety and wellness programs. The study addresses a wide range of stress-related topics, including violence, shiftwork, and alcohol abuse; according to the researchers, it is the first comprehensive national study of the law enforcement community. After evaluating several health and wellness programs, the researchers intend to design interventions that will provide agencies with best practices programs that can be successful.

The following are other NIJ safety and wellness grants that are part of the strategic plan:

• The Effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms on Behavioral, Psychological, and Neurophysiological Measures of Decision Making in Police Officers, a study by researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo. “In spite of the repeated exposure of police officers to traumatic events and the prevalence of PTSD symptomatology among officers, there are few studies to date that have examined the effects of PTSD on both the psychological and neurophysiological basis of police decision making,” the researchers said. An earlier study by the researchers found “reduced volume” in certain brain structures as a result of PTSD, and this current study continues and expands that work. [7]
• Neighborhoods, Stress, and Police Behavior: Understanding the Relationships , a study by researchers at Wayne State University in Detroit. The study examines how “chronic environmental stressors” affect police patrol officers, specifically looking at the challenges that come from policing in urban neighborhoods. “Though stress clearly impacts officers, it is unclear how stress influences policing at the street level, or what role various environmental stressors play in police officer stress and performance,” the researchers said.
• The Impact of Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training on Stress-Related Biological, Behavioral, and Health-Related Outcomes in Law Enforcement Officers, a study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Acknowledging that law enforcement officers are exposed daily to “extreme levels of occupational stressors,” the researchers note that there are substantial differences in perceived stress by individual officers who are exposed to similar stressors. The researchers will study the impact of a novel training program called “mindfulness-based resilience training on perceived stress on physical and mental measurements in participants.”
• Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Correctional Officers: A Biopsychosocial Approach, a study by researchers at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. Noting that corrections officers “have a higher rate of suicide than any other occupation” and that one-third meet the criteria for PTSD, the researchers will use a randomized experimental design to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness training on biological mechanisms, such as cortisol levels. “This project has the potential to identify a feasible intervention that can ameliorate the effects of stress on correctional officers’ health,” the researchers said.
• Examining the Role of Physiological and Psychological Responses to Critical Incidents in Prisons in the Development of Mental Health Problems Among Correctional Officers, a study by researchers at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. Noting that corrections officers experience high rates of workplace violence and rank high for nonfatal injury rates and absenteeism because of those injuries, the researchers are focusing on whether exposure to critical violent incidents contributes to negative health and occupational outcomes. The researchers are also examining whether corrections officers’ constant exposure to violence increases their vulnerability to developing PTSD.
• Defining Impact of Stress and Traumatic Events on Corrections Officers, a study by researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University, Portland. The researchers are conducting an 18-month observational study of about 400 corrections officers and will select the 80 most stressed and 80 least stressed officers. Those officers will undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify alterations in neurocognitive processes affected by stress. “This project will assess and define the impact of chronic stress and traumatic events on corrections officers to define the necessary urgent steps to improve officer well-being,” the researchers said.
• Suicide Prevention and Intervention Strategies by Law Enforcement Agencies: Utilization, Characteristics, and Costs, an in-depth and ongoing project by the RAND Corporation. Researchers surveyed law enforcement agencies both in the United States and abroad to learn about the programs and practices that agencies use to prevent suicide among their employees. The survey looked at why the programs were adopted, how they vary from agency to agency, and what resources were involved in implementing them. The data collection is complete, with 117 agencies contacted and about 150 interviews conducted. Project researchers are currently publishing the results in several journals.

The strategic plan cites a statement from the 2014 President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing that emphasizes the need for programs on officer health and wellness: [8]

Although the task force report focused on police officers and their communities, the NIJ strategic plan noted that the “sentiment of wellness within the report is equally relevant for those who work in other parts of the criminal justice system, as well as those in custody.”

“We’re talking about the employees in criminal justice, inmates, and the families of officers and of inmates,” Ford said. When a police or corrections department says they are concerned with officer safety, “we go up one level to be broader and more comprehensive. Our goal is to translate the body of research into something that is applicable to the entire criminal justice community.”

About This Article

This article was published in NIJ Journal No. 281 . 

[note 1] Caterina G. Spinaris, Michael D. Denhof, and Julie A. Kellaway,  Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in United States Correctional Professionals: Prevalence and Impact on Health and Functioning  (Florence, CO: Desert Waters Correctional Outreach, 2012).

[note 2] National Institute of Justice, Safety, Health, and Wellness Strategic Research Plan, 2016-2021 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, August 2016), NCJ 250153.

[note 3] Peter Finn and Julie Esselman Tomz, Developing a Law Enforcement Stress Program for Officers and Their Families , Issues and Practices in Criminal Justice (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, and Abt Associates Inc., December 1996), grant number OJP-94-C-007, NCJ 163175.

[note 4] Peter Finn, Addressing Correctional Officer Stress: Programs and Strategies , Issues and Practices in Criminal Justice (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, and Abt Associates Inc., December 2000), grant number OJP-94-C-007, NCJ 183474.

[note 5] Karen L. Amendola et al., “ The Impact of Shift Length in Policing on Performance, Health, Quality of Life, Sleep, Fatigue, and Extra-Duty Employment ,” Final report to the National Institute of Justice, grant number 2005-FS-BX-0057, January 2012, NCJ 237330.

[note 6] John M. Violanti, “ Shifts, Extended Work Hours, and Fatigue: An Assessment of Health and Personal Risks for Police Officers ,” Final report to the National Institute of Justice, grant number 2005-FS-BX-0004, March 2012, NCJ 237964.

[note 7] Janet L. Shucard et al., “Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Exposure to Traumatic Stressors Are Related to Brain Structural Volumes and Behavioral Measures of Affective Stimulus Processing in Police Officers,” Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 204 no. 1 (October 30, 2012): 25-31.

[note 8] President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, May 2015), 62.

About the author

Jim Dawson is a forensic science writer and contractor with Leidos.

Cite this Article

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• NIJ Journal Issue No. 281