The influence of masculinity on help-seeking behaviours of male police officers in the Royal Eswatini Police Service

Abstract

The Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) has gone to great lengths to ensure mental health assistance is available to all police officers in the REPS in an effort to counter mental health issues associated with the policing profession. Amid these efforts, it has been noted that male police officers in the REPS are reluctant to utilise services provided to them. This study employed a qualitative methodology. It used social constructionism as a theoretical framework to explore the influences of masculinity on the help-seeking behaviours of male police officers, from the perspective of male police officers currently serving in the REPS. To date, no research has been conducted within the REPS centered on male police officer’s experiences of gender, generally, and masculinity, in particular, as well as how these experiences influence their help-seeking behaviours, especially in regard to seeking mental health services. To this effect, ten male police officers from two police stations in the Kingdom of Eswatini were recruited to participate in the study using a purposive sampling technique. One-on-one and in-depth unstructured interviews were conducted with each of the participants. Each interview was audio recorded and analysed using thematic analysis (TA). From the data collected, five major themes emerged, namely: (1) views on what masculinity is; (2) how masculinity ideologies are constructed and constituted by males in the REPS; (3) how male police officers in the REPS understand and view help-seeking behaviour; (4) factors that have an effect on the help-seeking behaviours of male police officers in the REPS; and (5) how the construction of masculinity/ies amongst male police officers in the REPS influences their help-seeking behaviour. Subthemes also emerged during the data analysis. Raewyn Connell’s (1995) work on a pluralised typology of masculinities and, in particular, the concept of hegemonic masculinity was used as the theoretical and analytical lens for this study. The findings of this study highlighted how REPS male police officers’ views and constructions of masculinity/ies inform their help-seeking behaviours. From the findings of this study, the REPS and police trauma counsellors (PTC) in the REPS could use these insights to enhance mental health service utilisation by male police officers so as to meet the evolving societal and organisational demands faced by police personnel by equipping current and future practising PTC’s with innovative and gender responsive techniques.