Steel, C;
Tehrani, N;
Lewis, G;
Billings, J;
(2021)
Risk factors for complex posttraumatic stress disorder in UK police.
Occupational Medicine
10.1093/occmed/kqab114.
(In press).
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Abstract
Background: Police officers are frequently exposed to distressing and dangerous situations, increasing their risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (C-PTSD). Research examining C-PTSD in police officers is sparse, particularly examination of the occupational risk factors for trauma symptoms. Aims: This study aimed to examine the prevalence and risk factors for PTSD and C-PTSD in UK police officers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using psychological health surveillance data from the UK National Police Wellbeing Service. Police officers were either from high-risk areas of work or had been referred for screening by occupational health practitioners regarding psychological distress. The primary outcome for this study was a positive screening of either PTSD or C-PTSD, measured using the International Trauma Questionnaire. A range of occupational, clinical and lifestyle factors was examined to establish their role as potential risk factors for PTSD and C-PTSD. Results: In total, 2444 UK police officers were included, with 89% from high-risk areas of work. A prevalence of 3% for PTSD and 2% for C-PTSD was found in police officers from high-risk areas of work. Higher work stress and lower manager support were found to increase the odds of C-PTSD but not PTSD. Higher personal trauma history increased the risk for PTSD and C-PTSD equally. Conclusions: Work-related occupational factors increased the odds of PTSD and C-PTSD in police officers, which could be important risk factors for trauma symptoms within police officers. Efforts should be made to improve the working environment of police officers to help improve their psychological well-being.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Risk factors for complex posttraumatic stress disorder in UK police |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/occmed/kqab114 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqab114 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Complex posttraumatic stress disorder, occupational health, police officers, risk factors |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10134010 |
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