ABSTRACT
Background: Occupational stress among police officers is an extensive but neglected issue due to number of negative consequences on an individual as well as the police department. Policing is a highly demanding work environment, with constant threat to life, uncertainty at work, encounters, political pressure, exposure to violence, and death. Objectives: The objective of the study was to identify the occupation-related stressors faced by civil police officers in a subdivision in Thrissur. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among civil police officers in Irinjalakuda subdivision, Kerala, from January 2017 to October 2018. The study population consisted of all civil police officers from the subdivision. Data were collected using a pre-tested structured questionnaire, which included sociodemographic variables and self-reported physical morbidities. Occupational stressors were measured using operational and organizational police stress Questionnaire. The data obtained was coded, entered in Microsoft Excel sheet and analyzed using the statistical software, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version-23). Results: Nearly three-fourths of the participants were males and the mean age of the participants was 39.94 ± 7.067 years. Eight operational stressors were found to have a median value above four, while a median of five organizational stressors was found to be above four. “Fatigue” and “friends/family feel the stigma associated with job” were the most commonly quoted operational stressors while “staff shortages” and “bureaucratic red tape” were the most commonly quoted organizational stressors. Conclusion: Modifications such as sharing work and allotting fixed duty hours should be done to avoid stress and its adverse effects. Stress management training can be given at regular intervals to improve competency and enhance coping skills.
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.
ABSTRACT
El estrés es uno de los factores de riesgo más importantes para la mayoría de las enfermedades, provoca una respuesta del organismo a condiciones externas que perturban el equilibrio emocional de la persona. Sus consecuencias afectan la vida del individuo, dentro de ella, su esfera laboral, con su influencia en la efectividad productiva de los directivos de forma destacada, entorpeciendo suscapacidades para la toma de decisiones, el pensamiento flexible, la creatividad, motivación y la salud. El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar si existe relación entre la presencia de indicadores de vulnerabilidad al estrés en los directivos del Hospital General Docente "Abel Santamaría Cuadrado" y los factores de estrés organizacional percibidos por estos. Se utilizó un diseño de investigación no experimental, transversal, con un estudio descriptivo/correlacional en una muestra compuesta por 44 directivos. Se aplicó el test lista de indicadores de vulnerabilidad al estrés, el cuestionario sobre el estrés laboral de la OIT-OMS y una entrevista semiestructurada. Las preocupaciones y los trastornos psicosomáticos fueron los principales indicadores de vulnerabilidad al estrés obtenidos. El nivel de percepción de los factores organizacionales productores de estrés laboral fue bajo y correlacionaron significativamente con los indicadores de vulnerabilidad al estrés obtenidos, los elementos: clima y territorio organizacional y tecnología. No sobresalen cuantitativamente indicadores de problemas en cuanto a la vulnerabilidad al estrés en los directivos y el nivel de percepción de los directivos de las principales fuentes de riesgos existentes en el ámbito laboral que son productoras de estrés es fundamentalmente bajo.
Stress is one of the most important risk factors to the majority of the diseases; it provokes a response of the organism to the external conditions that disturbs the emotional equilibrium of the individual. Its consequences affect the individual's life as well as the working sphere that notably influences on the productive effectiveness of the executives, hindering the processes of decision-making, flexible thinking, creativity, motivation and health. This research paper was aimed at identifying if there was a relationship between the indicators of vulnerability to stress in the executives at "Abel Santamaria Cuadrado" University Hospital and the factors of organizational stress they perceived. A design of a non-experimental, cross-sectional research that included a descriptive/correlative study in a sample comprised of 44 executives was conducted. Stress-vulnerability scale test and the questionnaire of work-related stress of the IWO-WHO were applied together with a semi-structured interview. Worries and psychosomatic disorders were the main indicators of vulnerability to stress obtained. The level of perception regarding organizational factors that provoke work-related stress was low and correlated significantly with the indicators of vulnerability to stress obtained, which elements were:organizational environment, organizational territory and technology.Quantitatively, the indicators of problems concerning vulnerability to stress in executives were not notable and the level of perception of the main sources of risk factors existing in work-related environments, causing stress, was for the most part low.
ABSTRACT
A cross-sectional study was conducted in two hospitals in Hargeisa city to determine the job and organizational stress among nurses and doctors in ICU and its influencing factors. A universal sampling method was carried out and one hundred and twenty questionnaires were distributed among nurses and doctors working in intensive care units of two hospitals on different shift duties; morning, afternoon, night and rotation shifts. The response rate was 83.3%. Regression analysis showed that approximately 88% (adjusted R square = 0.889) of the variation in stress mean score was explained by the background variables. Experience, role overload, physical environment and marital status were significant predictors.