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Cited by 86Stress and Burnout ResearchPolicing Practices and PerceptionsWorkplace Health and Well-being

Measuring policing stress meaningfully: Establishing norms and cut-off values for the Operational and Organizational Police Stress Questionnaires

McCreary, Donald R., Fong, Ivy, Groll, Dianne L.·2017·Police Practice and Research
DOI 10.1080/15614263.2017.1363965
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Abstract

The Operational and Organizational Police Stress Questionnaires (PSQ-Op and PSQ-Org) are useful tools for understanding individual differences in the perception of policing-specific stress. However, two of the limitations of the PSQ-Op and PSQ-Org are their lack of normative values that provide organizations with a baseline with which to judge the effectiveness of stress-reduction interventions or new resilience-based training initiatives and cut-offs that can identify the percentage of employees who might be experiencing high, moderate, and low levels of policing-specific stress. Specifically, they do not allow individual departments or policing organizations to assess the relative degree of work-related stress their members are experiencing, or to determine whether that level of stress is excessive. To address this gap in knowledge, we developed gender-based norms and cut-off values for the two PSQ measures. These norms are provided for both overall scale scores and individual items, and implications for addressing officer stress are discussed.

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  • McCreary et al. (2017) established norms and cut-off values for the PSQ-Op, with values below 2.0 indicating low stress, between 2.1 and 3.4 moderate stress, and above 3.5 high stress.

    “In later developments, McCreary et al. (2017) established norms and cut-off values, with values below 2.0 indicating low stress, between 2.1 and 3.4 moderate stress, and above 3.5 high stress.”

    From Burnout and Stress Measurement in Police Officers: Literature Review and a Study With the Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (2020) · cites this paper as McCreary et al., 2017

  • Previous research has supported the use of the operational and organizational constructs in a wide variety of PSP occupations, including police, firefighters, paramedics, and corrections.

    “Previous research has supported the use of the operational and organizational constructs in a wide variety of PSP occupations, including police [13,28,29], firefighters [30], paramedics [31], and corrections [32].”

    From Assessing the Relative Impact of Diverse Stressors among Public Safety Personnel (2020) · cites this paper as [29]

  • The PSQ-Org and PSQ-Op items are not specific to policing and can apply to other PSP professionals; the scales have been used successfully with a wide range of PSP.

    “Despite the scale titles, none of the items are specific to policing, such that each item can apply to other PSP professionals; indeed, the scales have been used successfully with a wide range of PSP [28,29,30,31,32].”

    From Assessing the Relative Impact of Diverse Stressors among Public Safety Personnel (2020) · cites this paper as [29]

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Authors
McCreary, D. R., Fong, I., & Groll, D. L.
Affiliations
  • Brock University (CA)
  • Queen's University (CA)
Corresponding author
Groll, Dianne L.
ORCID
Venue
Police Practice and Research
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2017-08-18
Volume
18
Issue
6
Pages
612-623
ISSN
  • 1477-271X (ISSN-L)
  • 1561-4263
DOI
10.1080/15614263.2017.1363965
OpenAlex
W2748344695
Cited by
86
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3
FWCI
7.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Police Practice and Research (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Tema Conter Memorial Trust
  • Queen’s University Department of Psychiatry
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
Keywords
reference values, cut-off values, gender differences, police officers, occupational stress, stress measurement, resilience training, stress reduction intervention

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