STRESS AND COPING STRATEGIES AMONG POLICE PERSONNEL AT SELECTED POLICE STATIONS IN KATHMANDU VALLEY

Background: Police work is one of the highly stressful job as police personnel continuously face stressful situation at work. This study intended to assess the stress and coping strategies among police personnel in the selected police stations of Kathmandu Valley. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in selected police stations of Kathmandu valley from 28th July 2019 AD to 24th August 2019 AD. Non-probability consecutive sampling technique was adopted for selecting 198 police personnel. Structured self-administered questionnaire, Police Stress Questionnaire and Brief COPE scale were used as to measure stress and coping strategies. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse collected data. Chi- square test was used to determine the association between variables. Results: Among 198 police personnel, 56.1% had high level of operational stress and 45.0% had high level of organizational stress. There was significant association between age and organizational stress (p =.003). Duration of work was significantly associated with levels of operational and organizational stress (p=< .001). Positive reframing coping strategies are the most rated coping strategy (72.66%). Conclusions: Study concluded that more than half of police officers experience significant levels of organizational and operational stress. They employ problem-focused coping techniques more frequently than other coping mechanisms. There is a strong correlation between stress and coping mechanisms. Therefore, the appointing authority must prioritize the mental health of police officers and encourage the adoption of problem-focused coping mechanisms.