Police job strain during routine activities and a major event

Occupational Medicine 2011;61:395–399 Advance Access publication on 3 June 2011 doi:10.1093/occmed/kqr058 Police job strain during routine activities and a major event S. Garbarino1,2, N. Magnavita3, M. Elovainio4,5, T. Heponiemi4, F. Ciprani1, G. Cuomo1 and A. Bergamaschi3 1 Correspondence to: N. Magnavita, Institute of Occupational Medicine, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy. Tel: 139 3473300367; fax: 139 0661909399; e-mail: ................................................................................................................................................................................... Background Special police forces are exposed to periods of intense work stress in ensuring public order. ................................................................................................................................................................................... Aims To explore the relationship between the work context (routine work or special event) of special force policemen and psychological measures of job strain (demand–control) and effort–reward imbalance. ................................................................................................................................................................................... Methods All policemen assigned to the G8 meeting in L’Aquila, Italy, in July 2009 were invited to complete a questionnaire while engaged in routine work in January 2009 (Time A) and in June 2009 (Time B), while preparing for the special event. ................................................................................................................................................................................... Results Participation rate in the questionnaire study was 292/294 (99%) members of the special police force. Measures of job strain (20.39, P , 0.001) and effort–reward imbalance (20.37, P , 0.001) decreased significantly from Time A to Time B. On average, demand decreased from 14.2 6 1.9 to 12.6 6 2.7 (P , 0.001), control increased from 11.8 6 2.5 to 14.4 6 3.4 (P , 0.001) and social support increased from 17.8 6 2.9 to 19.0 6 3.1 (P , 0.001). At the same time, effort decreased from 17.4 6 3.2 to 11.8 6 3.8 (P , 0.001), reward grew from 37.6 6 5.5 to 45.5 6 7.4 (P , 0.001) and overcommitment dropped from 7.1 6 2.1 to 6.6 6 1.7 (P , 0.001). ................................................................................................................................................................................... Conclusions In special police forces, routine work may be significantly more stressful than a single critical event. ................................................................................................................................................................................... Key words Effort–reward imbalance model; G8 meeting; job strain model; law enforcement; occupational stress; perceived stress; police; public safety; routine work; stressful event. ................................................................................................................................................................................... Introduction Police work is highly stressful. Exposure to traumatic incidents and interaction with violent subjects are specific occupational stressors. Other psychological stressors, such as rotating shift work, overtime, lack of consultation and communication, lack of control over workload, inadequate workplace support and excess workload are not specific to policing [1]. A recent study of Swiss police described organizational and operational stressors, including high mental and intellectual demand, inadequate work schedule, lack of senior support, selfperception of poor quality work, physical environment and age [2]. Previous studies [1–13] have investigated a variety of tasks, including traffic control, detective and administrative work and law enforcement, making comparison and interpretation difficult. Theoretical approaches to the study of occupational stress include the demand–control–support (DCS) [14] and the effort–reward imbalance (ERI) [15] models. The DCS model fits the high decision latitude and psychological demands of police work. The increasing task complexity and surveillance required in law enforcement makes the ERI model appropriate too. The ‘VI Reparto Mobile’ of Genoa is an Italian special police unit deployed to law enforcement and riot control at political or sports demonstrations, where public safety is at risk. Members are selected from ordinary policemen and receive specific psychophysical training. The VI Reparto Mobile was assigned to the G8 Summit Meeting in Genoa in 2001. The violent riots that took place on that occasion had enduring and unpleasant legal consequences, damaging the reputation of Italian police forces. In planning the 2009 G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy, the police trade unions and team leaders requested specific training and stress risk assessment for the event. The aim of this study was to compare stress levels perceived by members of the special police force: VI Reparto
The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: State Police Health Service Department, Ministry of the Interior, Italy, 2Department of Neuroscience, Ophthalmology and Genetics, University of Genoa, Italy, 3Institute of Occupational Medicine, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy, 4 National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland, 5University College London, London, UK. 396 OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE Mobile, during routine activities and during a major event (the 2009 G8 summit meeting in L’Aquila). Specifically, we explored whether responsibility for the security of the special event increased perceived stress due to higher workload or decreased it due to higher job control and better rewards. Methods Results All but 2 of the 294 policemen in the force consented to participate in the study (99%). Table 1 shows participants’ demographic characteristics at Time A, which remained constant at Time B. Table 2 shows the means and standard deviations for each subscale of the questionnaires at Time A, during routine activity, and at Time B, shortly before the G8 meeting, and their differences. For each subscale in both models, scores were higher at Time A than at Time B and the differences were all statistically significant. At Time A, 271 policemen (94%) had a job strain score (demand–control ratio) of .1. This number fell to 170 policemen (59%) at Time B. At Time A, 72 policemen (25%) had an ERI score of .1. This number fell to 21 policemen (7%) at Time B. For 169 policemen (58%), perceived job strain (demand/control ratio) was .1 at both Time A and Time B and 21 of these subjects (7%) also had an ERI score .1 at both times. Table 1. (...truncated)