Stressful aspects of police officers' job

master's thesis

• Title: Stresni aspekti rada u policijskoj službi
• Author: Lucija Popek
• Mentor: Ines Sučić (mentor)
• Committee member: Ines Sučić (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Andreja Brajša-Žganec (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Renata Franc (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Department of Croatian Studies; (Division of Psychology); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2015-06-30, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: SOCIAL SCIENCES; Psychology

Abstract

Zanimanje policijskog službenika slovi kao jedno od najstresnijih zanimanja. Stres općenito razorno djeluje na psihičko i tjelesno funkcioniranje i zdravlje. Psihička i fizička stabilnost i zdravlje važni su preduvjeti za obavljanje bilo kojeg posla, a posebno policijskog. Ukoliko ti osnovni preduvjeti nisu zadovoljeni, događaju se pogreške koje mogu imati negativne posljedice za policijske službenike poslovno i privatno, ali i za društvo u cjelini. U svijetu postoji veći broj istraživanja na ovu temu, no u Hrvatskoj su ona tek na začetku. U ovom istraživanju sudjelovali su policijski službenici, izvanredni studenti Policijske akademije (N=172). Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su kako naši policijski službenici doživljavaju relativno visoku razinu stresa koji je počeo uzimati svoj danak u vidu pratećih fizičkih i psihičkih tegoba koje oni osjećaju. Također, pokazalo se da postoji i problem sagorijevanja na radu, čiji su najčešći simptomi osjećaj nedostatka energije, premorenosti i iscrpljenosti, te osjećaja prezasićenosti radom. Prediktivnim za izraženiji sindromom sagorijevanja na radu pokazali su se izraženiji organizacijski i operativni stres, te prisutnost fizičkih simptoma stresa i simptoma opće psihičke uznemirenost.

Abstract (english)

Working as a police officer is known as one of the most stressful professions. Generally, stress has negative influence on both mental and physical functioning and health. Mental and physical stability and health are very important requirements for any job, and especially the one in law enforcement. If those basic requirements are not met, mistakes can happen. They can have negative consequences on both professional and private sphere among police officers, but also on the society in general. Although there is substantial number of research conducted abroad, research on this topic are very rare in Croatia. In this research participated employed police officers who were currently enrolled in Police Academy (N=172). Results showed that police officers in Croatia experience relatively high levels of stress accompanied by negative physical and psychological symptoms. Also, police officers showed symptoms of burnout at work, indicated through feelings such as lack of energy, tiredness and exhaustion. Significant predictors of burnout showed to be higher level of organisational and operative stress, and more pronounced physical symptoms of stress and general psychological distress.

• Keywords: stres; psihički simptomi; fizički simptomi; sagorijevanje na radu; policija
• Keywords (english): stress; psychological symptoms; physical symptoms; burnout; police
• Language: croatian
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:111:566723
• Study programme: Title: Department of Psychology; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra psihologije (magistar/magistra psihologije)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Access restricted to students and staff of home institution
• Created on: 2015-11-05 11:52:05