Assessment of burnout levels in a sample of police officers

Abstracts

OBJETIVO: Comparar os níveis de burnout em dois grupos de policiais civis, considerando a área de atuação dos mesmos (atividade laboral interna ou externa). MÉTODO: Utilizando a versão em português do Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), um grupo de 35 policiais envolvidos em atividades externas foi comparado com um grupo de 25 policiais envolvidos em atividades internas. Utilizou-se o teste t de Student para comparar o escore total da escala, bem como os fatores constituintes da mesma. RESULTADOS: Considerando-se um nível de significância de 95%, não houve diferenças entre os dois grupos para o escore total da escala (p < 0,383) nem para os três fatores constituintes da mesma, que são: esgotamento emocional (p < 0,76), realização (p < 0,11) e despersonalização (p < 0,65). CONCLUSÃO: Esses resultados sugerem que os sintomas vinculados à síndrome não são determinados pelo tipo de atividade desempenhada. Entretanto, estudos mais amplos que possam melhor investigar essa síndrome e sua relação com o trabalho policial se mostram necessários.

Síndrome de burnout; policiais civis; estresse ocupacional

BRIEF COMMUNICATION

Assessment of burnout levels in a sample of police officers

Evaluación de burnout en una muestra de policiales civiles

Núbia de Mesquita Silveira^I; Silvio José Lemos Vasconcellos^II; Leila Poitevin Cruz^III; Renata Ferreira Kiles^IV; Thaís Pinheiro Silva^IV; Daniela Gonçalves Castilhos^V; Gabriel José Chittó Gauer^VI

^IPsychologist; Cognitive Psychotherapy Specialist, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil

^IIPsychologist. PhD Student, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. CAPES grant holder

^IIIPsychologist

^IVUndergraduate student, Psychology school, PUCRS, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

^VUndergraduate student, Psychology school, Universidade Luterana do Brasil (ULBRA), Canoas, RS, Brazil

^VIProfessor, School of Medicine (PUCRS). Professor, Law School (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. PhD, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, MD, USA

^{Correspondence}

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To compare burnout levels in two groups of police officers, considering their working activities (administrative vs. operational).

METHODS: Using a Brazilian Portuguese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), a group of 35 police officers involved in operational activities was compared to a group of 25 officers involved in administrative activities. The Student t test was used to compare the total scores obtained in the scale, as well as the scores obtained individually in each of the factors that constitute it.

RESULTS: Considering a level of significance of 95%, no difference was observed between the two groups in the total scores obtained in the scale (p < 0.383) and neither in the three factors that constitute it, namely, emotional exhaustion (p < 0.76), personal accomplishment (p < 0.11) and depersonalization (p < 0.65).

CONCLUSION: The results obtained in this study suggest that the symptoms associated with the burnout syndrome are not determined by the type of activity performed. However, further studies are necessary for a better investigation of this syndrome and of its relation with the police officer job.

Keywords:Burnout syndrome, police officers, occupational stress.

RESUMEN

OBJETIVO: Comparar los niveles de burnout en dos grupos de policiales, considerándose sus áreas de actuación - actividad de trabajo interna o externa.

MÉTODO: Utilizándose la versión en portugués del Maslach Burnout Inventary (MBI), un grupo de 35 policiales que realizan actividades externas fue comparado a un grupo de 25 policiales que hacen actividades internas. Se ha utilizado el test t de Student para comparar el escore total de la escala, así como los factores que la constituyen.

RESULTADOS: Considerándose un nivel de significación del 95% no hubo diferencia entre los dos grupos para el escore total de la escala (p < 0,383) y para los tres factores de constitución: agotamiento emocional (p < 0,76), realización (p < 0,11) y despersonalización (p < 0,65).

CONCLUSIÓN: Estos resultados sugieren que los síntomas vinculados al síndrome no son determinados por el tipo de actividad desempeñada. Por otra parte, se necesita estudios más amplios para mejor investigar este síndrome y su relación con en trabajo de los policiales.

Palabras clave: Síndrome de burnout, policiales, stress del trabajo.

IINTRODUCTION

The term burnout is used to designate the breakdown of something due to energy exhaustion.¹ In the psychology area, it was firstly publicly used by Maslach on the occasion of the Annual Congress of the American Society of Psychology, in 1997. Burnout has been defined as a syndrome comprising factors related to exhaustion and strain resulting from a response to chronic work-related stressors. According to Maslach & Jackson,² it has specific symptoms and can be defined as comprising three factors: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and decreased sense of professional efficacy.³ Pines & Aronson⁴ define the syndrome as a state of mental, physical and emotional exhaustion caused by long-term exposure to emotionally demanding situations. Jackson et al.⁵ consider these exhaustive emotional state as a result of an excessive psychological and emotional demand.

We highlight, however, that burnout is different from the classic reactions of stress because it is more associate with psychological fatigue, as pointed out by Ezmann et al.⁶ In a similar way, Lunardi⁷ believes the burnout syndrome is different from stress because whilst burnout comprises negative attitudes and actions towards users, clients, organization and work, stress has more to do with a particular relationship between the individual and his/her surrounding environment.

Kohan & Mazmanian⁸ consider that burnout is an extreme state of resources draining, resulting from a chronic exposure to work-related stress. It is associated to decreased capacity of performing individual functions, physical indisposition, depression, anxiety, difficulties in developing interpersonal relations, increases in drug-usage, absenteeism, and higher number of workers replacement; deficit in work performance, intention of giving up and decrease in organizational commitment.

Rosse et al.⁹ suggest that the level of self-esteem should be considered in the assessment of burnout. This is because the individual with low self-esteem tend to be less successful in interpersonal relations.

Ballone¹⁰ reported that the early career years are the most vulnerable to the development of burnout, which prevails in women. According to Kohan & Mazmanian,⁸ studies have already demonstrated that global perceptions of the workplace are important predictors of burnout. Golembiewski¹¹ stresses that burnout is most significantly found in individuals working in human service professions, although the concept of burnout has been extended to other diseases as well. Cherniss¹² points out that some professions involving a high degree of interpersonal contact may even affect the employees.

According to Gasparetto,¹³ policing today requires police officers to constantly refine their public and interpersonal relationships, which allow them to interact with the community without loosing the energy and authority that must be a natural trait of their personality. Burke^14-16 points out that police officers are as vulnerable to burnout as other professionals are, and that this association has not been adequately studied yet. Chamberlai & Zika¹⁷ also consider that studies concerning this relation would be very important.

For all these reasons, it seems that changing the studies focus from the police to the police officer would be a very profitable action, once the meanings of the police actions rely on the professional, who many times does not depend on the organizational structures.¹⁸ On the other hand, this type of symptomatologies may not be strongly bounded to the types of activities carried out.

We agree on the idea and by taking into consideration the indicators concerning the activities performed by police professionals, we have carried out a comparative study between two groups of police workers: from the administrative and operational areas working in the city of Porto Alegre. Our goal was to compare the burnout levels in both groups.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study was carried out with 60 police officers working in Porto Alegre. A Brazilian-Portuguese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), translated and adapted by Roazzi et al.¹⁹ was used to measure burnout in the sample. The MBI is composed of 24 items where respondents indicate their answers in a 5-point Likert scale. The three factors that compose the inventory (emotional exhaustion, professional efficacy and depersonalization) are assessed through eight items each.

The sample was composed of employees from the administrative and operational sectors of two police departments of Porto Alegre, selected before taking part of group therapy activities. Once this is an exploratory study that will serve as basis for a further and wider analysis of burnout in police officers, we relied on a convenience sample. This is also the reason why other variables, such as sex and age, were not investigated. Inclusion criteria were: non-retired police officers from one of the two departments selected. Thirty-five subjects exclusively involved in internal activities and 25 in external policing were included. Free and informed consent was obtained from all respondents and none of them was lost during the study.

Statistical analysis was performed comparing the two groups using the Student's t-test for the total scores obtained with MBI. The Student's t-test was also used for comparison among the three factors that compose the inventory. The internal consistency of the scale was also assessed, based on Cronbach's alpha, once it has been recently validated in Brazil and its usage is still incipient.

RESULTS

According to the outcomes of the Student's t-test (significance level of 5%), there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of the scale's total score, as well as in terms of each of the three factors that compose it, when considered separately (table 1). As to the internal consistency of the instrument, Cronbach's alpha was 0.87.

DISCUSSION

No statistically significant differences were found between both groups, either when considering the total score of the three factors or each in isolation. Such a result suggests that burnout can be more related to organizational factors than to the type of activity performed. The present study meets the results of other investigations, which suggest that the syndrome onset is more associated to a sum of factors than due to the type of activity performed at work.^20,21 Storm & Rothmam²² evidenced that the strategies used by police officers to cope with stressful situations may have a more significant role than the situation itself. The outcomes of the present study suggest that the situations experienced may not be a determinant factor in the syndrome development.

The prevalence of burnout in police officers was not assessed, as this was not an objective of the present study and the sample size was not suitable for such an evaluation. Moreover, although the scale used has already been validated in Brazil, there are no standardizations that enable the comparison between the police officers sample scores and the percentiles of the general population. This study was also important to highlight the internal consistence of the instrument adapted and validated by Roazzi et al.¹⁹

In general terms, this work has shown the importance of burnout measurement in police officers and it will be used as a basis for further investigation we intend to develop. Factors that contribute to emotional exhaustion, lack of professional efficacy and excessive depersonalization of police officers shall be better understood. Investigating to what extent some singularities of policing can contribute to different labor-related activities may foster an advance in the implementation of more effective treatment and preventive measures.

REFERENCES

Received on January 26, 2005. Revised on April 18, 2005. Accepted on May 17, 2005.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  22 Aug 2006
• Date of issue
  Aug 2005

History

• Accepted
  17 May 2005
• Received
  26 Jan 2005
• Reviewed
  18 Apr 2005