L’élaboration d’un outil de mesure fiable et valide des agents stressants aigus et chroniques associés au maintien de l’ordre
| Principal investigator(s): | Donald R. McCreary
(Defence Research & Development Canada) |
| Co-investigator(s): | Megan M. Thompson
(Defence Research & Development Canada) |
| Sponsoring Institution: | Defence Research & Development Canada |
Purpose and Objectives
The goal of the present research was to develop a reliable and valid measure (or measures) of police stress: the Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ). This measure should be short in length so as to minimize as much survey burden as possible amongst respondents. It also should contain no terminology specific to the Canadian police culture in the hopes that it will be adopted in other countries. The benefit to this latter goal is that, by using a common instrument, differences in policing-related stress between officers in different countries can be explored.
Methods
Phase 1: Item Selection and Assessment of Applicability
The first phase of the research involved eliciting the items for a short, reliable, and valid self-report measure of stressors applicable to the policing environment. This was achieved through a series of focus groups conducted with active-duty members of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP). Transcripts of the focus groups from Study 1 were reviewed for common themes and these commonalities served as the basis for an initial set of questionnaire items. In Study 2, the initial draft of the questionnaire was then given to a small group of OPP officers for their comments on wording and applicability.
Phase 2: Questionnaire Reliability and Validity
In the second phase of the research, the new measure’s psychometric reliability and validity was assessed. In Study 3, the questionnaire was given alongside generic measures of perceived stress, daily hassles (i.e., a measure of generic chronic stressors), and negative life events (i.e., a generic measure of acute stressors). This study assessed discriminant validity. In Study 4, the questionnaire was given alongside measures of people’s job satisfaction and emotional responses to their work to assess the concurrent validity of the two Police Stress Questionnaires. |
Results
- The results of the focus groups confirmed that police officers appear to make an important distinction between operational stress (i.e., stressors associated with doing the job) and organizational stress (i.e., stressors associated with the organization and organizational culture within which one works). It was with this distinction in mind that we created two separate PSQs: the PSQ-Op and the PSQ-Org.
- Three separate studies demonstrated the reliability of the PSQ-Op and PSQ-Org. This is important because it means that the 20 items in each questionnaire form two coherent wholes, one measuring Operational Stress associated with policing, the other measuring Organizational Stress associated with policing. Without evidence of the two scales’ reliability, researchers would not be able to use these scales with confidence.
- Study 2 demonstrated construct validity by showing that the stress ratings of the PSQ items were positively correlated with their frequency (i.e., the more frequently they occur, the more stressful they are perceived).
- Study 3 demonstrated discriminant validity by showing that the PSQ-Op and PSQ-Org were only partially correlated with self-perceptions of general stress, daily hassles, and negative life events. These moderate correlations suggest that work-related and non-work-related stress co-occurs.
- Study 4 demonstrated concurrent validity. The PSQ-Op and PSQ-Org were correlated with lower levels of job satisfaction and more negative (and fewer positive) emotions about one’s job. While the correlations with poor job satisfaction are statistically significant for both the PSQ-Op and PSQ-Org scales, the correlations are stronger for the PSQ-Org, suggesting that this factor is more important to job satisfaction in these police officers.
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Conclusions
- The PSQ-Op and PSQ-Org are reliable and valid measures of two conceptually distinct, albeit correlated, aspects of occupational stress in policing (i.e., Operational and Organization stressors).
- Stress associated with policing is relatively independent of general life stressors and needs to be assessed separately.
- Those experiencing higher levels of policing-related stress are less satisfied with all aspects of their jobs (Overall Job Satisfaction, Satisfaction with Pay, Satisfaction with Promotion Opportunities, Satisfaction with Immediate Supervisor, Satisfaction with Fringe Benefits, Satisfaction with Contingent Rewards, Satisfaction with Operating Policies and Procedures, Satisfaction with Co-workers, Satisfaction with the Nature of the Work, and Satisfaction with Communication within the Organization).
- Organizational stress appears to be more strongly associated with lower levels of job satisfaction.
- Those experiencing higher levels of policing-related stress have more negative, and fewer positive, feelings about their jobs.
- Future research needs to explore the association between these job-related stressors and the health and well-being of officers. The rationale for this comes from the well-documented relationship between stress and poor health and well-being. Strategies for reducing police-related stress can then be determined and implemented
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