The Impact of Job Stress and General Health on Burnout among Police Officers

The Moderating Role of Ways of Coping, Social Support and Attitudes Toward Seeking Psychological Help

Authors

  • Linda Mohammed University of Trinidad & Tobago
  • Randy Seepersad University of the West Indies

Keywords:

police, job stress, job burnout, general health, moderators

Abstract

The current cross-sectional study utilized job stress and general health as well as a range of demographic variables (age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, years of service and educational levels) as predictors of job burnout among police officers in Trinidad. Social support, ways of coping and the willingness to seek psychological help were used as moderators of the relationship between job stress and general health and burnout. Data were collected from 438 police officers from the 8 police divisions in Trinidad. A questionnaire that included socio-demographic variables as well as the Maslach Burnout Inventory, Ways of Coping Questionnaire, Job Stress Scale, Social Support Scale, the General Health Questionnaire and the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale were administered to respondents. Findings revealed that job stress, general health, social support and ways of coping were significant predictors of job burnout. Ways of coping was found to moderate the relationship between job stress and job burnout, while social support was found to moderate the relationship between general health and job burnout. The study’s findings have implications for the design of interventions to reduce burnout within the police service.

Author Biographies

Linda Mohammed, University of Trinidad & Tobago

Dr Linda Mohammed is an Assistant Professor and the Programme Leader of the Institute of Criminology and Public Safety at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. She has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has presented at academic conferences nationally and internationally. She has a keen interest in research on gender-based violence, with an emphasis on intimate partner violence in migrant and non-migrant populations. Her other research interests include, homicide co-victimization, gang violence and youth crime and delinquency.

Randy Seepersad, University of the West Indies

Dr. Randy Seepersad is a Criminologist and Head of the Criminology Unit at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago.  Dr. Seepersad holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and an M.Phil. degree from the University of Cambridge.  Dr. Seepersad specializes in research methodology and statistics and has a research interest in economic deprivation and crime, gang violence, youth crime and justice, and penology. Recent books which were published by Dr. Seepersad include Gangs in the Caribbean (2013), Making Deterrence Work: Problems and Possibilities (2014) and Crime and Security in Trinidad and Tobago (2016). 

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Published

2024-08-27

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2024): Caribbean Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies

Section

Articles