Data from: Association of work-related stress with mental health problems in a special police force unit

Objectives. Law and order enforcement tasks may expose special force police officers to significant psychosocial risk factors. The aim of this work is to investigate the relationship between job stress and the presence of mental health symptoms while controlling for socio-demographical, occupational and personality variables in special force police officers. Method: At different time points, 292 out of 294 members of the 'VI Reparto Mobile', a special police force engaged exclusively in the enforcement of law and order, responded to our invitation to complete questionnaires for the assessment of personality traits, work-related stress (using the demand-control-support (DCS) and the effort-reward-imbalance (ERI) models), and mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and burnout. Results: Regression analyses showed that lower levels of support and reward and higher levels of effort and overcomittment were associated with higher levels of mental health symptoms. Psychological screening revealed 21 (7.3%) likely cases of mild depression (BDI ≥10). Officers who had experienced a discrepancy between work effort and rewards showed a marked increase in the risk of depression (OR 7.89 95%CI 2.32-26.82) when compared with their counterparts who did not perceive themselves to be in a condition of distress. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that self-reported work-related stress may play a role in the development of mental health problems in police officers. The prevalence of mental health symptoms in the cohort investigated here was low, but not negligible in the case of depression. Since special forces police officers have to perform sensitive tasks for which a healthy psychological functioning is needed, the results of this study suggest that steps should be taken to prevent distress and improve the mental well-being of these workers.研究目的：执法维稳任务可能使特种警务人员面临显著的社会心理风险因素。本研究旨在探讨特种部队警务人员的工作压力与心理健康症状检出率之间的关联，并控制社会人口学、职业及人格变量的混杂影响。 研究方法：本研究分多个时间点开展。专属承担执法维稳任务的特种警务单位“VI机动支队（VI Reparto Mobile）”共有294名成员，其中292人应邀完成了问卷调研。调研问卷涵盖人格特质评估、工作相关压力评估（采用需求-控制-支持（demand-control-support, DCS）模型与付出-回报失衡（effort-reward-imbalance, ERI）模型），以及抑郁、焦虑与职业倦怠等心理健康问题的评估。 研究结果：回归分析结果显示，较低的社会支持水平与回报水平、较高的工作付出水平及过度投入（overcommitment）均与更高的心理健康症状得分显著相关。心理筛查结果显示，共有21例（7.3%）为轻度抑郁疑似病例（贝克抑郁量表（BDI）得分≥10）。与未报告自身存在心理困扰的警务人员相比，那些感知到工作付出与回报不匹配的警务人员，其抑郁风险显著升高（优势比OR=7.89，95%置信区间CI：2.32-26.82）。 研究结论：本研究结果表明，自我报告的工作相关压力可能在警务人员心理健康问题的发生发展中发挥作用。本次调研队列的心理健康症状整体检出率偏低，但抑郁症状的检出情况不容忽视。鉴于特种警务人员需执行对心理健康功能有较高要求的敏感任务，本研究结果提示，应采取相关措施以预防该群体出现心理困扰并改善其心理福祉。