Psychosocial Hazards And Health Status Of Police Officers In Ibadan

ABSTRACT

Police officers while maintaining law and order may experience psychosocial hazards which

adversely affect their health. Work conditions can influence psychosocial well being, which in

turn could influence their work performance, therefore affecting their attitude to the public.

As there is little information on this subject, this study was conducted to determine the

psychosocial hazards and health status of police officers in Ibadan, Nigeria.

A cross-sectional study was conducted, which utilized cluster sampling technique to select

435 police officers in the two area commands in Ibadan. A total of 37 divisions in both area

commands were grouped into large and small, based on a calculated average population of

100 police officers per division. Three divisions each (one large and two small) were selected

by balloting from the two area commands. All police officers in the selected divisions were

requested to participate in the study. A structured self administered questionnaire was used to

collect data on socio-demographic characteristics, operational and organizational stressors,

psychosocial hazards and general health status. The General Health Questionnaire 12 was

used to assess psychological distress with a maximum obtainable score of 12 and scores of ≥3

were indicative of psychological distress. Descriptive statistic, chi-square test and logistic

regression were used for data analysis. Results were deemed significant at p

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