Abstract
Police officers are among the workers most exposed to acute or chronic stressful events, which compromises their psychosocial well-being and physical health. Exposure to traumatic events, human suffering, problematic situations and episodes of violence can cause psychological damage and lead to the development of secondary traumatic stress. The aim of this research is to explore the effect of job demands and job resources on secondary traumatic stress in police officers. To better understand this phenomenon and its consequences in this population, police officers were compared with health care professionals working as first responders. An ad hoc questionnaire was administered to 112 and 286 health care professionals. The findings showed that compared with health care workers, police officers suffer from secondary traumatic stress to a greater extent. Moreover, the results showed that some police officers suffered more than health care professionals regarding certain consequences of secondary traumatic stress, such as negative emotions and burnout. This study suggests implications and offers insights for both police officers and the organizations in which they work: police officer organizations should contribute to preventing the phenomenon of secondary traumatic stress by proposing programs that implement resilience training and adaptive coping strategies.
Highlights
A literature analysis has shown that police officers are among the workers most exposed to acute or chronic stressful events (VanDercar et al, 1980), which compromises their psychosocial well-being and physical health (Storch and Panzarella, 1996; Kop et al, 1999; Bachynski et al, 2012; Kessler et al, 2014). Kop et al (1999) affirmed that continued contact with others’ suffering as well as helping or attempting to help persons undergoing traumatic experiences may result in emotional responses
This exposure can cause psychological damage and lead to the development of secondary traumatic stress, which is defined by Baird and Kracen (2006, p. 181) as “a set of psychological symptoms that mimic post-traumatic stress disorder but is acquired through exposure to persons suffering from the effects of trauma.”
An analysis of the demographic characteristics of the participants shows that the sample was composed of 112 POs and 286 health care professionals (HCPs)
Summary
A literature analysis has shown that police officers (hereinafter POs) are among the workers most exposed to acute or chronic stressful events (VanDercar et al, 1980), which compromises their psychosocial well-being and physical health (Storch and Panzarella, 1996; Kop et al, 1999; Bachynski et al, 2012; Kessler et al, 2014). Kop et al (1999) affirmed that continued contact with others’ suffering as well as helping or attempting to help persons undergoing traumatic experiences may result in emotional responses. Given the high frequency of their interpersonal relationships with citizens, POs are considered “helping professionals” (e.g., doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers), who are characterized by their exposure to traumatic events (Maslovaric et al, 2017), human suffering, problematic situations and episodes of violence. This exposure can cause psychological damage and lead to the development of secondary traumatic stress (hereinafter STS; Figley, 1995), which is defined by Baird and Kracen STS can have effects on resilience among POs (MacEachern et al, 2011) and can inhibit the release of negative feelings related to their responsibilities; STS may impact the experience of fairness and emotive withdrawal from their affective and social environment (Pearlman and Saakvitne, 1995)
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