Occupational stress among female police officers in an urban setting in South Kerala

Authors

  • Vivek S. Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala
  • Rosin George Varghese Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala
  • Neethumol K. S. Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala
  • Sameena S. S. Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala
  • Reju R. S. Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala
  • Priya James Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala
  • Rashik Rasheed Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala
  • Shereena V. H. Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala
  • Vijaysankar S. Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20185281

Keywords:

Women police, Operational stress, Organizational stress

Abstract

Background: Occupational stress is regarded as one of the major health hazards of modern workplace, with policing (law enforcement) being no exception. Women police officers are gradually increasing in numbers in the country and they are believed to experience more stress than their male counterpart. Hence this study was conducted with the objectives of estimating prevalence of occupational stress among female police personals in terms of operational and organizational stress and to identify the causes for these stress as perceived by them.

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 50 female police officers working in various police stations of Thiruvananthapuram city, selected by simple random sampling, during the period May 2018 to July 2018,using a pre tested semi structured questionnaire based on operational police stress questionnaire (PSQ-OP) and organizational police stress questionnaire (PSQ-ORG). The data was properly coded and entered in Microsoft excel and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0.

Results: Mean age of the study population was 38.07 years (SD=5.714 years) and majority (64%) belonged to middle socioeconomic class. Perceived organizational and operational stress prevalence among the study population was as high as 80% (40 % experienced moderate stress and 40% experienced high stress) and 90% (high stress reported by 70 % and moderate stress by 20%) respectively. The most common stressor reported for organizational stress was staff shortage (74%) and that for operational stress was finding time to stay in good physical condition (76%).

Conclusions: High prevalence of occupational stress calls for immediate attention from the officials.

Author Biographies

Vivek S., Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala

Assistant Professor

Department of Community Medicine

Rosin George Varghese, Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala

Assistant Professor

Department of Community Medicine

Neethumol K. S., Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala

Statistician

Department of Community Medicine

Sameena S. S., Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala

Undergraduate Student

 

Reju R. S., Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala

Undergraduate Student

Priya James, Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala

Undergraduate Student

Rashik Rasheed, Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala

Undergraduate Student

Shereena V. H., Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala

Undergraduate Student

Vijaysankar S., Department of Community Medicine, Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Kerala

Undergraduate Student

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Published

2018-12-24

How to Cite

S., V., Varghese, R. G., S., N. K., S., S. S., S., R. R., James, P., Rasheed, R., H., S. V., & S., V. (2018). Occupational stress among female police officers in an urban setting in South Kerala. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 6(1), 325–329. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20185281

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Section

Original Research Articles