Brewin, Chris R;
Miller, Jessica K;
Burchell, Brendan;
(2022)
Estimating the total prevalence of PTSD among the UK police force: Formal comment on Stevelink et al. (2020).
PLOS ONE
, 17
(5)
, Article e0268621. 10.1371/journal.pone.0268621.
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Abstract
Two recent surveys have reported widely differing prevalence rates for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within the U.K. police force. Stevelink et al. (2020) reported a rate of 3.9% whereas a survey conducted for the charity Police Care UK reported a rate of 20.6%. In this comment we discuss how definitions and methodological factors can impact prevalence rates. We consider a number of possible reasons for the discrepancy between the surveys, and conclude that it is most likely a method artefact. Stevelink et al.’s survey reported the prevalence of recent-onset DSM-IV PTSD only, whereas the Police Care UK survey reported the total ICD-11 PTSD and Complex PTSD prevalence, regardless of when in the person’s career the traumatic events occurred. Analysing the Police Care UK data using Stevelink et al.’s procedures produced practically identical prevalence rates, suggesting that the discrepancy was apparent rather than real.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Estimating the total prevalence of PTSD among the UK police force: Formal comment on Stevelink et al. (2020) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0268621 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268621 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2022 Brewin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| UCL classification: | 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 > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10150680 |
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