Quality of Life among the Traffic Police Officers Working in Shyambazar Jurisdiction, Kolkata

Abstract

Background: As far as the working environment is concerned, traffic police officers are usually exposed to different health problems due to the nature of their work. This study aimed to assess the life quality of traffic police officers working in Shyambazar jurisdiction, Kolkata, India. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done by simple random sampling, on 115 traffic police officers, working in Shyambazar jurisdiction at Kolkata, India. The World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) was adopted. The four domains of the study were physical health, psychological health, social relationship and environmental health regarding the age and working experiences, and frequency, hours of work, and their mean scores were compared respectively. ANOVA and independent t-test were performed to interpret the results using SPSS software. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 37.5 ± 6.162. The mean of work experience was 11.2 ± 5.122 years. The overall life quality of the traffic police officers was good. The mean difference of work experiences was statistically significant (p<0.05) regarding the working environment. The mean difference of working hours was statistically significant (p<0.05) with respect to physical health. The mean difference of working frequency was statistically significant (p<0.05) concerning the social and environmental health domains. It was noted that environmental health was most affected followed by psychological and physical health. Conclusion: Making time for leisure and recreational activities along with regular counseling sessions for traffic police officers helps improve the quality of their life.