The DOI matches its Crossref record; 111 of the 113 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The relationship between organisational stressors and mental wellbeing within police officers: a systematic review
Open accessAbstract
Background: Occupational stressors in police work increase the risk for officer mental health morbidities. Officers’ poor mental wellbeing is harmful to the individual, can affect professionalism, organisational effectiveness, and public safety. While the impact of operational stressors on officers’ mental wellbeing is well documented, no review has systematically investigated organisational stressor impacts. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review to assess the relationship between organisational stressors and police officer mental wellbeing. Methods: Systematic review conducted following PRISMA and Cochrane Collaboration guidelines. Literature search was undertaken from 1990 to May 2017 on four databases (EBSCOHOST Medline/SocINDEX/PsycINFO/OVID Embase) and grey literature. Included articles were critically appraised and assessed for risk of bias. Narrative and evidence syntheses were performed by specific mental health outcomes. Results: In total, 3571 results were returned, and 15 studies met the inclusion criteria. All included studies were published in English between 1995 and 2016, had cross-sectional study designs, spanned across four continents and covered 15,150 officers. Strong evidence of significant associations was identified for organisational stressors and the outcomes of: occupational stress, psychiatric symptoms/psychological distress, emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment. The organisational stressors most often demonstrating consistently significant associations with mental health outcomes included lack of support, demand, job pressure, administrative/organisational pressure and long working-hours. Conclusions: This review is the first to systematically examine organisational stressors and mental health in police officers. Organisational stressors that can be targeted by interventions and policy changes to secure officer wellbeing, a healthy work environment, and benefits to the organisation and the public are identified.
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“Police activity is, thus, described in the literature as stressful, leading to poor physical and mental health outcomes over time, in which burnout is included”
From Psychosocial risk and protective factors associated with burnout in police officers: A systematic review (2023) · cites this paper as Purba and Demou, 2019
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“In terms or organisational factors, high job demands, effort-reward imbalance, low decision latitude, perceived injustice, low social sup port, lack of leadership, organisational culture, and working in urban environments were found to be associated with burnout, in line with the wide literature (Nieuwenhuijsen et al., 2010; Purba and Demou, 2019; Sherwood et al., 2019).”
From Psychosocial risk and protective factors associated with burnout in police officers: A systematic review (2023) · cites this paper as Purba and Demou, 2019
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“Research conducted by Purba and Demou (2019) demonstrated that organizational stressors, workload and lack of institutional support significantly increase the risk of burnout among law enforcement personnel.”
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“Similarly, Purba and Demou (2019), in a systematic review, identified organizational support, communication, and fairness as consistent predictors of improved mental well-being and reduced stress.”
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“However, previous studies have demonstrated that chronic exposure to stressful occupational environments might induce habituation phenomena and alter stress perception, particularly in tactical and emergency-response professions (Purba and Demou, 2019).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Purba, A., & Demou, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Demou, Evangelia
- Venue
- BMC Public Health
- Published
- 2019-10-15
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1286-1286
- ISSN
- 1471-2458 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6792329
- OpenAlex
- W2980327373
- Cited by
- 328
- References
- 113
- Citations by year
- 2026: 59 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 70 · 2023: 59 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 12
- FWCI
- 3.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- BMC Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council (MC_PC_13027)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Occupational Health and Burnout
- Keywords
- organisational stressors, police officers, psychological well-being, occupational stress, psychological distress, emotional exhaustion, job demands, lack of support, long working hours, administrative pressure, police mental health
- MeSH terms
- Occupational Stress, Mental Disorders, Humans, Mental Health, Risk Factors, Police
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![Fig. 1 Study selection PRISMA Flow Diagram [58]](/paper-figures/52bb994cdd934e22b6ce62a4dd89ade1/the-relationship-between-organisational-stressors-and-mental-wellbeing-within-figure-1.jpg)