Assessment of occupational stress and burnout among field police personnel

Abstract

The Police is an active branch of the justice system responsible for maintenance of law and order. Stress in policing brings about burnout and health problems. The study aims to find significant differences between Ahmedabad City Police officers and subjects having other professions with respect to Occupational Stress, Burnout, Stressful Life Events, Depression and Anxiety, and among the Police officers with respect to gender, age, years of experience and rank, and significant relationships among variables and whether others predict burnout. The sample consists of 852 subjects, divided equally into Police officers group and group of subjects having other professions. Assessment was done using Occupational Stress Index, Burnout Inventory, Presumptive Stressful Life Event Scale and Depression, Anxiety Stress Scales. The findings revealed significant differences between two groups with respect to Occupational Stress, Burnout, stressful life events, Depression and Anxiety and they were more in Police. There were significant differences between Male and Female Police Officers with respect to all variables. Former was found to be high on all variables except task avoidance. There were significant differences considering age of Police with respect to the variables. With regards to years of work and rank, varied findings were obtained. There were significant positive relationships among variables. Other variables have significant contribution of 12% on Burnout. The study highlights that policing is highly stressful, leading to burnout and other mental health problems. Thus, adopting police reforms as suggested by various committees and focusing more on imparting refresher programme and remedial intervention programme is essential for Ahmedabad City Police officers.