Occupational stress and work engagement among military police officersAbstract
This paper investigates the levels of occupational stress and work engagement among military police officers. This cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study was conducted with 268 police officers from the 3rd Military Police Battalion of Paraná state. We observed significant levels of occupational stress in 125 (46.7%) police officers. The main stressors were lack of career growth prospects (3.7; ±1.3); inadequate training (3.4; ±1.2); discrimination/favoritism in the work environment (3.1; ±1.4); long working hours (3.0; ±1.4); distribution of tasks (2.7; ±1.1); control type (2.7; ±1.1); gaps in disclosing information about organizational decisions (2.7; ±1.2); low valuation (2.7; ±1.2). Levels of work engagement ranged from 3.8 [medium] to 4.1 [high]. The correlation between occupational stress and work engagement was low for the dimensions of Absorption (r: -.284; p<0.001) and Overall Score (r: -0.393; p<0.001) and moderate for the dimensions Vigor (r: -0.422; p<0.001) and Dedication (r: -0.414; p<0.001). We concluded that an important number of police officers had shown occupational stress. However, they displayed good levels of work engagement and are enthusiastic, inspired, and proud of their work.
Key word: Occupational stress; Work engagement; Police; Military personnel