Stress and coping of police officers in the South African Police Service

dc.contributor.authorWassermann, Ariami
dc.contributor.authorMeiring, Deon
dc.contributor.authorBecker, Jurgen Renier
dc.contributor.emaildeon.meiring@up.ac.zaen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2019-03-01T10:24:07Z
dc.date.available2019-03-01T10:24:07Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.description.abstractWorking in the police service can be physically and emotionally demanding. Officers use various coping methods to deal with the stressors. The main aim of this study was to investigate which coping responses are used most by police officers in the South African Police Service and to investigate how the prevalence of these coping responses changes over time. A longitudinal approach was used where data were collected at three different points in time. The final sample (n = 120) was used for this study. The results indicate that police officers predominantly use planful problem-solving, positive reappraisal, and confrontive coping to deal with their daily stress. Planful problem-solving and positive reappraisal are seen as adaptive ways of dealing with stress, while the outcomes of confrontive coping are context dependent. The coping responses of seeking social support, escape avoidance, and accepting responsibility were used less frequently. The results indicate that coping styles change over time as police officers accepted significantly less responsibility, made less use of confrontive coping, and relied more on planful problem-solving, positive reappraisal, and escape avoidance. The findings of this study have important implications for the diagnosis and treatment of stress of active police officers. It is recommended that interventions such as emotional competence training be used to reinforce and refresh positive coping strategies to enhance the emotional well-being of police officers.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentHuman Resource Managementen_ZA
dc.description.librarianhj2019en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://journals.sagepub.com/home/sapen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationWassermann, A., Meiring, D. & Becker, J.R. 2019, 'Stress and coping of police officers in the South African Police Service', South African Journal of Psychology, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 97-108.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0081-2463 (print)
dc.identifier.issn2078-208X (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1177/0081246318763059
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/68541
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherSageen_ZA
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2018en_ZA
dc.subjectAdaptive copingen_ZA
dc.subjectChanges in copingen_ZA
dc.subjectMaladaptive copingen_ZA
dc.subjectPolice copingen_ZA
dc.subjectPolice stressen_ZA
dc.subjectWays of copingen_ZA
dc.titleStress and coping of police officers in the South African Police Serviceen_ZA
dc.typePostprint Articleen_ZA

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