The Effects of Gender, Tenure and Primary Workplace on Burnout of Ukrainian Police Officers

Abstract

The postmodern era poses special challenge for police: the transition from the archetypal role of a warrior to the role of a servant. Purpose. To determine the level of Ukrainian police officers burnout and effect of the gender, tenure and primary-workplace (field work or office service) on it. The study involved police officers of the National Police of Ukraine (age - 20-45 years, n = 129 - men, n = 55 - women). The questionnaire was applied. The results of the questionnaire were processed by mathematical statistics methods. 53.8% and 30.4% of the officers revealed high and average levels of emotional exhaustion respectively. Only 15.8% officers revealed low level of depersonalization ( = 39 points). The correlation analysis was performed by the Kendall rank correlation coefficient. The study did not reveal a statistically significant relationship between burnout and gender. However, a slight negative correlation of tenure and burnout was revealed. This requires further research of young officers, in particular, their job expectations. The primary workplace is identified as a significant predictor of emotional exhaustion (tau Kendall=0.192), depersonalization (tau-Kendall=0.176) and aggregated global measure of burnout (tau-Kendall=0.179). The revealed condition and structure of occupational burnout of Ukrainian police officers testify to its risk level and the necessity of its constant monitoring and psychological support. The implications and limitations of research and practice are discussed.