Background
Police work tends to impose a high degree of stress
and a
multiplicity of stressful situations which can affect the
physical, mental and interpersonal relationships of
police
personnel. The objective of the present study was to assess
the level of stress among police personnel and to find the
association of various factors with the level of stress among
police personnel
.
Method
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 102 police
personnel in Wardha city. A structured questionnaire based
on The Professional Life Stress Test by Fontana
was given to
all participants. A grading scale was used to link
participant’s verbal descriptions of perceived stress to a
numerical scoring system being given scores between
zero
and five. The total score obtained for each respond
ent was
considered as a measure of stress level.
Results
Different stressors that were identified among the
police
personnel included criticism by superiors, excess work, no
rewards, inadequate value given to abilities and
commitments and no satisfaction from work. Seventy
participants scored >15 which indicated that stress
in the
workplace was a problem, while 32 participants scored
≤
15,
indicating stress in the workplace was not a problem. A
significant association was found with between age
group,
marital status, education and working hours and the
level of
stress among
police personnel.
Conclusion
The majority of police personnel studied were under
stress
at their workplace due to a variety of stressors. This indicates the necessity to modify the organizationa
l
environment within the police force.