Home⇛Psychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal⇛vol. 27 no. 9 (2024)

Interlinking Police Officers’ Operational Stress and Level of Resiliency

Marcel Atianzar | Ma. Victoria Juan

Discipline: others in psychology

 

Abstract:

Police officers are among the professionals known to be most exposed to critical incidents. In their quest for public safety, peace and order, they need to combat work-related stresses. This research sought to analyze the significant relationship between the operational stress and resiliency among the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB) in Region 02, Philippines, specifically to determine the levels of their operational stress and resiliency (in terms of compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary trauma stress). A descriptive-correlation research design was used to answer the objectives of the study. The Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (McCreary & Thompson, 2006) and the Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire (Stamm, 2009) were utilized to gather the necessary data. Frequency counts, percentages, computed mean, t-test, f-test and chi-square were used to illustrate the data gathered. The RMFB have low level of operational stress, moderate level of resiliency in burnout and secondary trauma stress. A significant relationship between operational stress and resiliency was evident. It can therefore be concluded that to have the capacity to recover from operational stress, there should be high compassion satisfaction combined with moderate levels of burnout and secondary trauma stress. This embodies a more positive behavioral outcome to recuperate from a stressful situation. It is recommended to consider conducting a routine assessment of police officers’ operational stress as basis for an intervention program.



References:

  1. Aburn G, Gott M, Hoare K. (2016). What is resilience? An integrative review of the empirical literature. J Adv Nurs. 72(5):980-1000. doi:10.1111/jan.12888. Epub 2016 Jan 7. PMID: 26748456.
  2. Aburn G, Gott M, Hoare K. (2016). What is resilience? An integrative review of the empirical literature. J Adv Nurs. 72(5):98. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12888
  3. Arcega, A., & Caballero, R. (2019). The moderating effects of psychological capital on workplace bullying and burnout in the Philippine National Police. International Journal of Advanced Research and Publications, ISSN: 2456-9992.
  4. Avey JB, Luthans F, Youssef CM. (2010). The additive value of positive psychological capital in predicting work attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Management, 36(2):430-452. doi:10.1177/0149206308329961
  5. Bowler RM, Harris M, Li J, Gocheva V, Stellman SD, Wilson K, Alper H, Schwarzer R, Cone JE. (2012). Longitudinal mental health impact among police responders to the 9/11 terrorist attack. Am J Ind Med, 55(4):297–312. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.22000
  6. Britt TW, Shen W, Sinclair RR, Grossman MR, Klieger DM. (2016). How much do we really know about employee resilience? Ind Organ Psychol, 9(2):378–404. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2015.107
  7. Cieslak, R., Shoji, K., Douglas, A., Melville, E., Luszczynska, A., & Benight, C. C. (2014). A meta-analysis of the relationship between job burnout and secondary traumatic stress among workers with indirect exposure to trauma. Psychological Services, 11(1), 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033798
  8. Collins PA, Gibbs AC. (2003). Stress in police officers: A study of the origins, prevalence and severity of stress related symptoms within a county police force. Occupational Medicine, 53(4):256-64. DOI:10.1093/occmed/kqg061
  9. Cronje JH, Vilakazi MJ. (2020). Secondary traumatic stress in police detective officers dealing with complainants of sexual crimes. South African Journal of Psychology, 50(4):520-529.
  10. Elwood LS, Mott J, Lohr JM, Galovski TE. (2011). Secondary trauma symptoms in clinicians: A critical review of the construct, specificity, and implications for trauma-focused treatment. Clinical Psychology, 31:25–36.
  11. Espartero, J. (2023). Police officers' perceived levels of organizational stress, operational stress, and coping strategies in San Jose, Antique, Philippines. Journal of Advances in Humanities Research, Vol. 2, No. 2.
  12. Galatzer-Levy IR, Brown AD, Henn-Haase C, Metzler TJ, Neylan TC, Marmar CR. (2013). Positive and negative emotion prospectively predict trajectories of resilience and distress among high-exposure police officers. Emotion, 13(3), 545–553. doi:10.1037/a0031314
  13. Gershon RR, Lin S, Li X. (200). Work stress in aging police officers. J Occup Environ Med, 44:160–167.
  14. Grant HB, Lavery CF, DeCarlo J. (2019). An exploratory study of police officers: Low compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. Frontier of Psychology, 9:2793. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02793
  15. Griffin M., Hogan, N., Lambert, E., Tucker-Gail, K., Baker, D. (2010). Job involvement, job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment and the burnout of correctional staff. Criminal Justice Behavior, 37, 239–55, DOI:10.1177/0093854809351682
  16. Hu T, Zhang D, Wang J. (2015). A meta-analysis of the trait resilience and mental health. Personal Individ Differ, 76:18-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.11.039
  17. Iroegbu, M. N., & Nwaogwugwu, O. N. (2012). Impact of job status and gender on job stress among Nigerian police officers. African Journal of Social Sciences, 2(1), 69-75.
  18. Janssens, K.M.E., van der Velden, P.G., Taris, R. et al. (2021). Resilience among police officers: A critical systematic review of used concepts, measures, and predictive values of resilience. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 36, 24–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-018-9298-5
  19. Johnston MC, Porteous T, Crilly MA, Burton CD, Elliott A, Iversen L et al. (2015). Physical disease and resilient outcomes: a systematic review of resilience definitions and study methods. Psychosomatics, 56(2):168–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psym.2014.10.005
  20. Juan, MV & Bollecer, T. (2019). Compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary stress trauma as measures of resiliency. Global Researchers Journal, vol 6
  21. Kleygrewe L, Oudejans RRD, Koedijk M, Hutter RIV. (2022). Police training in practice: Organization and delivery according to European Law Enforcement Agencies. Front Psychol., 12:798067. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.798067
  22. Klimley KE, Van Hasselt VB, Stripling AM. (2018). Posttraumatic stress disorder in police, firefighters, and emergency dispatchers. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 43:33-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2018.08.005
  23. Korre M, Farioli A, Varvarigou V, Sho Sato S, Kales S. (2014). A survey of stress levels and time spent across law enforcement duties: police chief and officer agreement. Policing, 8(2):109-122. doi:10.1093/police/pau001
  24. Lee JK, Choi HG, Kim JY, Nam J, Kang HT, Koh SB, Oh SS. (2016). Self-resilience as a protective factor against development of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in police officers. Ann Occup Environ Med., 28:58. doi:10.1186/s40557-016-0145-9
  25. Linley A, Joseph S. (2004). Positive change following trauma and adversity: A review. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 17(1)
  26. Martinussen M, Richardsen AM, Burke RJ. (2007). Job demands, job resources, and burnout among police officers. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35(3):239–49
  27. Maslach C. (2017). Finding solutions to the problem of burnout. Consult. Psychology Journal of Practical Research, 69:143–152. doi:10.1037/cpb0000090
  28. McCreary DR, Thompson MM. (2006). Development of two reliable and valid measures of stressors in policing: The Operational and Organizational Police Stress Questionnaires. International Journal of Stress Management, 13:494-518
  29. Morris R. (2017). Just what does it take to make someone snap? The Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/just-what-does-it-take-to-make-someone-snap
  30. Mostert K, Rothmann S. (2006). Work-related well-being in the South African Police Service. Journal of Criminal Justice, 34(5):479–91. doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2006.09.003
  31. Murray E. (2020). Building police officer psychological capital to mitigate stress. Law Enforcement Bulletin. https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/building-police-officer-psychological-capital-to-mitigate-stress
  32. Pangallo A, Zibarras L, Lewis R, Flaxman P. (2015). Resilience through the lens of interactionism: A systematic review. Psychol Assess., 27(1):1-20. doi:10.1037/pas0000024
  33. Piotrowski A, Sygit-Kowalkowska E, Boe O, Rawat S. (2022). Resilience, occupational stress, job satisfaction, and intention to leave the organization among nurses and midwives during the COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(11):6826. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116826
  34. Quieros C, Marques A, Fernado P, da Silva C, Bartolo A, Pereira A. (2020). Burnout and stress measurement in police officers: Literature review and study with the operational police stress questionnaire. Front Psychol., 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00587
  35. Schaible LM, Gecas V. (2010). The impact of emotional labor and value dissonance on burnout among police officers. Police Quarterly, 13(3):316–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611110373997
  36. Schaufeli WB. (2017). Burnout: A short socio-cultural history. In Burnout, Fatigue, Exhaustion: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on a Modern Affliction, eds S. Neckel, A. K. Schaffner, and G. Wagner. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 105–127. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-52887-8_5
  37. Stamm BM. (2002). Measuring compassion satisfaction as well as fatigue: Developmental history of the compassion satisfaction and fatigue test. In Figley CR (Ed.), Treating Compassion Fatigue, 107-119. New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge
  38. Stamm H. (2009). Professional quality of life: Compassion satisfaction and fatigue version 5 (ProQOL). Retrieved at www.proqol.org
  39. Velichkovsky BM. (2009). Primary and secondary appraisals in measuring resilience. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, 5(1):539–563. https://doi.org/10.11621/pir.2009.0027
  40. Wang Y, Chang Y, Fu J. (2012). Work-family conflict and burnout among Chinese female nurses: the mediating effect of psychological capital. BMC Public Health, 12:915. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-915
  41. Webster JH. (2013). Police officer perceptions of occupational stress: The state of the art. Policing: An International Journal, 36(3):636-652. doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-03-2013-0021
  42. Wilson JM, Dalton E, Scheer C, Grammich CA. (2010). Police recruitment and retention for the new millennium. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. doi:10.7249/RB9546
  43. Yoo H, Franke WD. (2011). Stress and cardiovascular disease risk in female law enforcement officers. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 84:279–86. doi:10.1007/s00420-010-0548-9

Tools


Copyright © 2026  KITE Digital Educational Solutions |  Exclusively distributed by CE-Logic