Minor psychiatric disorders and the work context of Civil Police: a mixed method study

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the association between the work context and the presence of Minor Psychiatric Disorders (MPD) in Civil Police officers from Porto Alegre, Brazil. Methods: This is a mixed, sequential and exploratory study. The sample was constituted by 237 police officers for the quantitative stage, and 20 for the qualitative stage. General worker's data, lifestyle and information about the work were asked, and the Self-Report Questionnaire-20 instrument was applied. In the qualitative stage, semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis were carried out. For quantitative data, descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Results: The prevalence of minor psychiatric disorders was 26.2% (n = 62). Accelerated work pace (PR = 1.535; 95%CI = 0.911-2.605), health treatment (PR = 1.752; 95%CI = 0.987-3.010) and psychological treatment (PR = 2.704; 95%CI = 1.604-4.516) were associated with a higher prevalence of MPD. While, police officers with the following characteristics: most motivation at work (PR = 0.721; 95%CI = 0.579-0.897), more eight hours of sleep per day (PR = 0.747; 95%CI = 0.574-0.971), healthy eating (PR = 0.545; 95%CI = 0.320-0.946) and having children (PR = 0.731; 95%CI = 0.523-0.986) were associated with a lower prevalence of MPD. In the qualitative stage, two categories and four subcategories emerged related to the work context and the psychiatric changes in the police officers: “Work context of the Civil Police” and “Work and psychiatric changes”. Conclusion: A high prevalence of MPDs was evidenced, as well as their association with the work context.

Policies to the police – mental health issues among police officers

“…The evaluation of the work context is crucial for the understanding of the mental health issues among police officers. Working long hours, higher violence rates in the area of work and exposure to direct violence during work, lack of preparation and planning of work activities are some of the factors associated with greater report of psychiatric symptoms [9][10][11] . A study published in this issue of the Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria, entitled "Minor psychiatric disorders and the work context of Civil Police: a mixed method study" 10 , also shows that motivation to the job and the capacity to respond to a difficult situation at work are associated with fewer psychiatric symptoms reported by civil police officers in Brazil.…”