Factors that influence Quality of Life of Police Officers: Using Maslow 5-Need Construct

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of the current study is to examine the quality of life of members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and to establish a model can be used to evaluate wellbeing of this group of people. Method: Between April to May 2008 a descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted on some 400 police officer across the 19-division in Jamaica. It is a stratified random sample, with an instrument of –questions. Data were collected and stored using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS 20.0). Logistic regression technique was used to model the factors that may determine the dependent variable. Findings: There were 400 respondents (with a sex of 159 males for every 100 females). The mean age of the sampled respondents was 35 years ± 10 years. The Model (Model (1.2) explains 18% of the variability in quality of life of Jamaican Police officers. Quality of life of sampled officers was moderately high (34.2±7.9; maximum = 50). Of the 12 variables tested in Model (1.1), 6 of them explain the 18%. These factors are length of service; morale; satisfaction with current salary; trusting members of police force; interpersonal trust, and subjective social class. Conclusion: The findings suggest that social class (i.e. middle class with referent to lower class) and morale are more important predictors of quality of life while interpersonal trust is the only negative predictor of quality of life compared to other factors. These findings offer an insight in the QoL of police officers and provide a background for policy makers planning for this cohort of people.