ABSTRACT

Existing research associates police work with stress and mental health challenges due to routine exposure to potentially traumatic incidents. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are under-represented in this literature. In this study, we explored the relationship between work-related potentially traumatic events and expressed trauma symptoms in a sample of 121 Ghanaian police officers. Ninety-seven (97) male and 24 female police officers participated in a semi-structured interview about on-the-job potentially traumatic events and completed a self-report measure of trauma symptoms. Overall, 71.9% of officers were exposed to at least one work-related PTE and 61.2% of officers endorsed at least one trauma. We found that dealing with traffic accidents, assaults and observing autopsy are the top critical incidents. We also found that observing autopsy and officer rank were predictive of expressed trauma. We discuss the findings within the context of a need to examine effects of potentially traumatic events on work and implications for mental health.

摘要

现有的研究将警察工作与压力和心理健康挑战联系起来，因为他们经常接触潜在的创伤性事件。低收入和中等收入国家 (LMIC) 在该文献中的代表性不足。在这项研究中，我们在 121 名加纳警察的样本中探讨了与工作相关的潜在创伤事件和表达的创伤症状之间的关系。九十七 (97) 名男性和 24 名女性警察参加了关于在职潜在创伤事件的半结构化访谈，并完成了创伤症状的自我报告测量。总体而言，71.9% 的警官至少接触过一种与工作相关的 PTE，61.2% 的警官认可至少一种创伤。我们发现，处理交通事故、袭击和观察尸检是最重要的事件。我们还发现，观察尸检和军官级别可以预测表达的创伤。我们在需要检查潜在创伤事件对工作的影响和对心理健康的影响的背景下讨论了这些发现。