{"title":"Does Shift Work Affect Burnout and Sleep Quality Among Australian Police Officers?","authors":"Peter Hassmén, Rebecca Burgess","doi":"10.1007/s11896-024-09698-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The safety of police officers and the community is compromised by shift work and work demands. Retention rates are declining globally, and recruiting new police officers is increasingly challenging. A contributing factor is organizational stressors, with nightshifts potentially increasing the risk of disturbed sleep, increased stress, and burnout; 642 Australian police officers answered a cross-sectional survey: 379 worked nightshifts and 263 dayshifts. Regardless of shift, a majority reported their stress (70%) and burnout (60%) as ranging from moderate to extremely high. Contrary to initial expectations, nightshift work did not significantly deteriorate sleep quality or intensify stress and burnout. These findings suggest that excessive workloads and the stressful environments encountered by police officers may primarily drive the burnout process. Additional research is required to determine the underlying factors and devise strategies to alleviate the adverse effects on the physical and mental health of police officers.</p>","PeriodicalId":46605,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology","volume":"53 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-024-09698-3","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The safety of police officers and the community is compromised by shift work and work demands. Retention rates are declining globally, and recruiting new police officers is increasingly challenging. A contributing factor is organizational stressors, with nightshifts potentially increasing the risk of disturbed sleep, increased stress, and burnout; 642 Australian police officers answered a cross-sectional survey: 379 worked nightshifts and 263 dayshifts. Regardless of shift, a majority reported their stress (70%) and burnout (60%) as ranging from moderate to extremely high. Contrary to initial expectations, nightshift work did not significantly deteriorate sleep quality or intensify stress and burnout. These findings suggest that excessive workloads and the stressful environments encountered by police officers may primarily drive the burnout process. Additional research is required to determine the underlying factors and devise strategies to alleviate the adverse effects on the physical and mental health of police officers.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology is a peer-reviewed journal that reports research findings regarding the theory, practice and application of psychological issues in the criminal justice context, namely law enforcement, courts, and corrections. The Journal encourages submissions focusing on Police Psychology including personnel assessment, therapeutic methods, training, ethics and effective organizational operation. The Journal also welcomes articles that focus on criminal behavior and the application of psychology to effective correctional practices and facilitating recovery among victims of crime. Consumers of and contributors to this body of research include psychologists, criminologists, sociologists, legal experts, social workers, and other professionals representing various facets of the criminal justice system, both domestic and international.