Abstract
The aim of the current study was to evaluate stress levels during routine activities and during a major political event by members of the VI Reparto Mobile, an Italian specialized police unit exclusively deployed for riot and crowd control, which had undergone serious stress and liability consequences after the 2001 G8-Summit in Genoa. The investigation protocol consisted of a psychological assessment at the beginning of the study, evaluation of task-related stress with the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) and the Effort-Reward Imbalance questionnaire (ERI) at two time periods, and evaluation of behavioral and clinical outcomes as measured by short-term sickness absences (STSA) throughout the duration of the study. The sample consisted of 290 policemen, representing a 98.6 % participation rate. Results found that unit officers were more emotionally stable, conscientious and open to experiences than the general male population and career soldiers. JCQ and ERI decreased significantly when compared with daily and special event activities (p < 0.001). Fifty-one percent of officers took STSA during three months of routine deployment, whereas only 35.5 % took it during the 2009 G8-Summit. These results suggest that members of the specialized unit had good capacity to withstand stress. Chronic routine work might be significantly more stressful for these kinds of officers than assignment to a special high-risk political event when adequate training, positive psychosocial support and appropriate organization of the event are provided.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychological Association (2002) Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Am Psychol 57:1060–1073
Anshel MH (2000) A conceptual model and implications for coping with stressful events in police work. Criminal Justice and Behavior 27:375–400
Arial M, Gonik V, Wild P, Danuser B (2010) Association of work related chronic stressors and psychiatric symptoms in a Swiss sample of police officers; a cross sectional questionnaire study. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 83:323–331
Beck AT, Steer RA (1993) Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory. Psychological Corporation, San Antonio, TX
Beck AT, Rush AJ, Shaw BF, Emery G (1979) Cognitive Therapy of Depression. Guilford Press, New York
Beck AT, Rush AJ, Shaw BF, Emery G (1987) Terapia cognitiva della depressione. Boringhieri, Torino (Italy)
Berg AM, Hem E, Lau B, Ekeberg Ø (2006) An exploration of job stress and health in the Norwegian police service: a cross sectional study. J Occup Med Toxicol 1:26–31
Berg AM, Hem E, Lau B, Haseth K, Ekeberg Ø (2005) Stress in the Norwegian police service. Occup Med (Lond) 55(2):113–120
Bishop GD, Enkelmann HC, Tong EM, Why YP, Diong SM, Ang J, Khader M (2003) Job demands, decisional control, and cardiovascular responses. J Occup Health Psychol 8(2):146–156
Brisinda D, Fenici R (2008) Heart Rate Variability: A method to evaluate Autonomic Function, Physiological Coherence and Stress-related Alterations. Presented at the 34th Annual Conference of The Society for Police & Criminal Psychology, Walnut Creek
Brisinda D, Sorbo, AR, Venuti A, Fenici R (2011) Real-time Assessment of Police Operational Stress Response During Realistic Tactical Training with Ultra-short-term Heart-rate Variability Analysis to Differentiate Physical from Emotional Adaptations. the 37th Annual Conference of The Society for Police & Criminal Psychology. Chicago.
Candura SM, Verni P, Minelli CM, Rosso GL, Cappelli MI, Strambi S, Martellosio V (2006) Occupational risks among public safety and security forces. G Ital Med Lav Ergon 28(1):53–62
Caprara GV, Barbaranelli C, Borgogni L (1993a) BFQ - Big Five Questionnaire: Manuale. Giunti OS, Firenze (Italy)
Caprara GV, Barbaranelli C, Borgogni L, Perugini M (1993b) The Big Five Questionnaire: A new questionnaire to assess the Five Factor Model. Pers Indiv Differ 15:281–288
Carlier IV, Lamberts RD, Gerson BP (1997) Risk factors for posttraumatic stress symptomatology in police officers: a prospective analysis. J Nerv Ment Dis 185:498–506
Chen HC, Chou FH, Chen MC, Su SF, Wang SY, Feng WW, Chen PC, Lai JY, Chao SS, Yang SL, Tsai TC, Tsai KY, Lin KS, Lee CY, Wu HC (2006) A survey of quality of life and depression for police officers in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Qual Life Res 15(5):925–932
Chiorri, C., and Bracco, F. (2009). Attendibilità e unidimensionalità della versione italiana della Safety Organizing Scale di Vogus e Sutcliffe (2007). Poster presented at the Congress of the Italian Psychological Association, Organizational Psychology Section, Florence, 23–24 October.
Costa M, Júnior HA, Oliveira J, Maia E (2007) Stress: diagnosis of military police personnel in a Brazilian city. Rev Panam Salud Publica 21(4):217–222
Courvoisier DS, Perneger TV (2010) Validation of alternative formulations of job strain. J Occup Health 52:5–13
Coyne JC, Downey G (1991) Social factors and psychopathology: stress, social support, and coping processes. Annu Rev Psychol 42:401–25
Farnè M, Sebellico A, Gnugnoli D, Corallo A (1991) Profile of Mood States. Giunti OS, Firenze (Italy)
Fenici R, Fenici P, Brisinda D (1999) Cardiovascular Adaptation during Action and Combat Shooting. In Proceedings of the XXIV International Congress on Law and Mental Health Toronto, June 16–18
Fenici R (1999) Cardiac Factors in Critical Incidents. Presented at the 27th Annual Conference of The Society for Police & Criminal Psychology., Port Jefferson, New York
Fenici R, Brisinda D (2004) Assessment of Individual Stress Reactions for Officers Selection and Training. Presented at the 32nd Annual Conference of The Society for Police & Criminal Psychology, Rome
Fenici R, Brisinda D (2008) Stress-induced changes of heart rate variability in police officers during operational training for demanding tactical tasks. Eur Heart J 29(4424):750
Fenici R, Brisinda D, Sorbo AR (2011) Methods for Real-Time Assessment of Operational Stress During Realistic Police Tactical Training. In: Kitaeff J (ed) Handbook of Police Psychology. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, New York
Ferrie J, Shipley M, Marmot M, Stansfeld S, Smith G (1998) An uncertain future: the health effects of threats to employment security in white-collar men and women. Am J Public Health 88:1030–1036
Folkman S, Lazarus RS (1991) Coping & Emotion. In: Monat A, Lazarus RS (eds) Stress & coping. Columbia University Press, New York, pp 207–227
Franke WD, Ramey SL, Shelley MC 2nd (2002) Relationship between cardiovascular disease morbidity, risk factors, and stress in a law enforcement cohort. J Occup Environ Med 44(12):1182–1189
Garbarino S, Nobili L, Balestra V, Beelke M, Cordelli A, Ferrillo F (2002a) Sleep disorders and daytime sleepiness in State Police shiftworkers. Arch Environ Health 57(2):167–173
Garbarino S, De Carli F, Nobili L, Mascialino B, Squarcia S, Penco MA, Beelke M, Ferrillo (2002b) Sleepiness and sleep disorders in shift workers: a study on a group of Italian police officers. Sleep 25(6):648–53
Garbarino S, Magnavita N, Ciprani F, Cuomo G (2011) The coping and support activities in the phenomenon of mass immigration in Italy: evaluation of work-related stress in Police Forces. G Ital Med Lav Erg 33(3 Suppl):170–174
Garbarino S, Chiorri C, Magnavita N, Piattino S, Cuomo G (2012) Personality Profiles of Special Force Police Officers. J Police Crim Psych. doi:10.1007/s11896-011-9099-6
Head J, Kivimaki M, Martikainen P, Vahtera J, Ferrie J, Marmot M (2006) Influence of change in psychosocial work characteristics on sickness absence: the Whitehall II study. J Epidemiol Community Health 60:55–61
Henderson M, Harvey SB, Overland S, Mykletun A, Hotopf M (2011) Work and common psychiatric disorders. J R Soc Med 104(5):198–207
House JS (1981) Work Stress and Social Support. Reading, Mass, Addison-Wesley
Hurrell JJ Jr, Nelson DL, Simmons BL (1998) Measuring job stressors and strains: Where we have been, where we are, and where we need to go. J Occup Heal Psychol 3:368–389
Ishizaki M, Kawakami N, Honda R, Nakagawa H, Morikawa Y, Yamada Y (2006) Japan Work Stress and Health Cohort Study Group. Psychosocial work characteristics and sickness absence in Japanese employees. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 79(8):640–646
Karasek RA, Theorell T, Schwartz JE et al (1998) Job characteristics in relation to the prevalence of myocardial infarction in the US Health Examination Survey (HES) and the Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES). Am J Public Health 78:910–918
Karasek R, Theorell T (1990) Healthy work: Stress, productivity and reconstruction of working life. Basic Books, New York, pp 1–82
Karasek R, Choi B, Ostergren O, Ferrario M, Smet P (2007) Testing two methods to create comparable scales scores between the job-content questionnaire (JCQ) and JCQ-like questionnaires in the European JACE study. Int J Behav Med 14:189–201
Karlin WA, Brondolo E, Schwartz J (2003) Workplace social support and ambulatory cardiovascular activity in New York City traffic agents. Psychosom Med 65(2):167–176
Kemp M, Diets AS (2008) “And the beat goes on..”(Heart Rates of Law Enforcement Officers during Deadly Force Scenarios). Presented at the 34th Annual Conference of The Society for Police & Criminal Psychology, Walnut Creek
Kouvonen A, Kivimäki M, Väänänen A, Heponiemi T, Elovainio M et al (2007) Job strain and adverse health behaviors: the Finnish Public Sector Study. J Occup Environ Med 49(1):68–74
Kuorinka I, Jonsson B, Kilbom A, Vinterberg H, Biering-Sorensen H, Andersen G, Jorgensen K (1987) Standardised Nordic questionnaire for the analysis of musculoskeletal symptoms. Appl Ergon 18:233–237
Magnavita N (2007) Due strumenti per la sorveglianza sanitaria dello stress da lavoro: il Job Content Questionnaire di Karasek e l’Effort Reward Imbalance di Siegrist. G Ital Med Lav Ergon 29(3):667–670
Meyerhoff JL, Norris W, Saviolakis GA et al (2004) Evaluating performance of law enforcement personnel during a stressful training scenario. Ann N Y Acad Sci Dec 1032:250–253
Ma CC, Burchfiel CM, Fekedulegn D, Andrew ME, Charles LE, Gu JK, Mnatsakanova A, Violanti JM (2011) Association of shift work with physical activity among police officers: the Buffalo cardio-metabolic occupational police stress study. J Occup Environ Med 53(9):1030–1036
Maslach C, Jackson SE (1981) The measurement of experienced burnout. J Occup Behav 2:99–113
Mc Nair D, Lorr M, Droppleman LF (1971) Manual for the Profile of the Mood States. EdITS Educational and Industrial Testing Service, San Diego
McElroy J, Morrow P, Wardlow T (1999) A carrer stage analysis of police officer work commitment. Journal of Criminal Justice 27:507–516
Melchior M, Ferrie JE, Alexanderson K, Goldberg M, Kivimaki M, Singh-Manoux A, Vahtera J, Westerlund H, Zins M, Head J (2009) Using sickness absence records to predict future depression in a working population: prospective findings from the GAZEL cohort. Am J Public Health 99(8):1417–1422
Mohan GM, Elangovan S, Prasad PS, Krishna PR, Mokkapati AK (2008) Prevalence of job strain among Indian foundry shop floor workers. Work 30(4):353–7
Newman DW, Rucker-Reed ML (2004) Police stress, statetrait anxiety, and stressors among U.S. marshals. Journal of Criminal Justice 32:631–641
O'Hara AF, Violanti JM (2009) Police suicide. A Web surveillance of national data. Int J Emerg Ment Health 11(1):17–23
Ones DS, Viswesvaran C, Reiss AD (1996) Role of social desirability in personality testing for personnel selection: The red herring. J Appl Psychol 81:660–679
Pauls CA, Crost NW (2004) Effects of faking on self-deception and impression management scales. Pers Indiv Differ 37:1137–1151
Patterson GT (2003) Examining the effects of coping and social support on work and life stress among police officers. Journal of Criminal Justice 31(3):215–226
Roelen CA, Weites SH, Koopmans PC, van der Klink JJ, Groothoff JW (2008) Sickness absence and psychosocial work conditions: a multilevel study. Occup Med (Lond) 58(6):425–430
Sanavio E, Bertolotti G, Michielin P, Vidotto G, Zotti AM (1997) CBA-2.0. Cognitive Behavioural Assessment 2.0. Scale primarie. Giunti OS, Firenze, Italy
Schmidtke A, Fricke S, Lester D (1999) Suicide among German federal and state police officers. Psychol Rep 84:157–166
Schnall PL, Landsbergis PA, Baker D (1994) Job strain and cardiovascular disease. Annual Review of Public Health 15:381–411
Siegrist J (1996) Adverse health effects of high-effort/low-reward conditions. J Occup Health Psychol 1:27–41
Siegrist J, Starkke D, Chandola T, Godin I, Marmot M, Niedhammer I, Peter R (2004) The measurement of effort-reward imbalance at work: European comparisons. Social Science & Medicine 58:1483–1499
Sirigatti S, Stefanile C (1993) MBI. Maslach Burnout Inventory. Adattamento italiano. Giunti OS, Firenze, Italy
Sorbo AR, Brisinda D, Venuti A, Fenici R (2011) Ultra short term heart-rate variability analysis at maximum stress. Differences between physical and emotional stress. Eur Heart J 32:1028
Spielberger CD, Gorsuch RL, Lushene RE, Vagg PR, Jacobs GA (1983) The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Adults. Manual. Mind Garden, Palo Alto, CA
Inc SPSS (2001) The SPSS TwoStep Cluster Component: A Scalable Component Enabling More Efficient Customer Segmentation, Technical report. SPSS, Chicago, IL
Taimela S, Läärä E, Malmivaara A, Tiekso J, Sintonen H, Justén S, Aro T (2007) Self-reported health problems and sickness absence in different age groups predominantly engaged in physical work. Occup Environ Med 64(11):739–746
Theorell T, Perski A, Akerstedt T, Sigala F, Ahlberg-Hulten G, Svensson J, Eneroth P (1988) Changes in job strain in relation to changes in physiological status. A longitudinal study. Scand J Work Environ Health 14:189–196
Trottier A, Brown J (1995) Police occupational health review. Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine 2(2):105–110
Vahtera J, Kivimaki M, Pentti J (1997) Effect of organizational downsizing on health of employees. Lancet 350:1124–1128
Vahtera J, Kivimaki M, Pentti J, Theorell T (2000) Effect of change in the psychosocial work environment on sickness absence: a seven year follow up of initially healthy employees. J Epidemiol Community Health 54:484–493
Vena JE, Violanti JM, Marshall J, Fiedler RC (1986) Mortality of a municipal worker cohort: III. Police officers. Am J Ind Med 10(4):383–397
Violanti JM, Burchfiel CM, Hartley TA, Mnatsakanova A, Fekedulegn D, Andrew ME, Charles LE, Vila BJ (2009) Atypical work hours and metabolic syndrome among police officers. Arch Environ Occup Health 64(3):194–201
Vogus TJ, Sutcliffe KM (2007) The Safety Organizing Scale: Development and validation of a behavioral measure of safety culture in hospital nursing units. Med Care 45:46–54
von dem Knesebeck O, David K, Siegrist J (2005) Psychosocial stress at work and musculoskeletal pain among police officers in special forces. Gesundheitswesen 67(8–9):674–679
Wang Z, Inslicht SS, Metzler TJ, Henn-Haase C, McCaslin SE, Tong H, Neylan TC, Marmar CR (2010) A prospective study of predictors of depression symptoms in police. Psychiatry Res 175(3):211–216
Westerlund H, Ferrie J, Hagberg J, Jeding K, Oxenstierna G, Theorell T (2004) Workplace expansion, long-term sickness absence, and hospital admission. Lancet 363:1193–1197
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Garbarino, S., Magnavita, N., Chiorri, C. et al. Evaluation of Operational Stress in Riot and Crowd Control Police Units: A Global Challenge for Prevention and Management of Police Task-Related Stress. J Police Crim Psych 27, 111–122 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-012-9104-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-012-9104-8