Police job strain during routine activities and a major event

BACKGROUND Special police forces are exposed to periods of intense work stress in ensuring public order. AIMS To explore the relationship between the work context (routine work or special event) of special force policemen and psychological measures of job strain (demand-control) and effort-reward imbalance. METHODS All policemen assigned to the G8 meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, in July 2009 were invited to complete a questionnaire while engaged in routine work in January 2009 (Time A) and in June 2009 (Time B), while preparing for the special event. RESULTS Participation rate in the questionnaire study was 292/294 (99%) members of the special police force. Measures of job strain (-0.39, P < 0.001) and effort-reward imbalance (-0.37, P < 0.001) decreased significantly from Time A to Time B. On average, demand decreased from 14.2 ± 1.9 to 12.6 ± 2.7 (P < 0.001), control increased from 11.8 ± 2.5 to 14.4 ± 3.4 (P < 0.001) and social support increased from 17.8 ± 2.9 to 19.0 ± 3.1 (P < 0.001). At the same time, effort decreased from 17.4 ± 3.2 to 11.8 ± 3.8 (P < 0.001), reward grew from 37.6 ± 5.5 to 45.5 ± 7.4 (P < 0.001) and overcommitment dropped from 7.1 ± 2.1 to 6.6 ± 1.7 (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS In special police forces, routine work may be significantly more stressful than a single critical event.