Police job strain during routine activities and a major event

Abstract

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 11.862.5 to 14.463.4 (P,0.001) and social support increased from 17.862.9 to 19.06 3.1 (P,0.001). At the same time, effort decreased from 17.463.2 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.