Effect of Occupational Stress on Changing Blood Pressure of Police Officers

Abstract

Abstract— Introduction: Police department has been identified as having higher level of occupational stress. Relationships between psychological features and physiological parameters, are highly correlated. The rate of increasing psychological disorders among the police officers in Kandy police division was found to be high in Sri Lankan context (Wickramasinghe et al., 2016) The present study was carried out to assess the relationship between occupational stress and blood pressure among police officers in Kandy regional area. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study; was conducted using pre-validated self-administered stress assessment questionnaire and measurements of blood pressure in police officers of Kandy, Peradeniya and Katugastota police stations. The sample size was 228 Results: Police officers of Kandy regional area are in moderate stress level (53%). Female police officers (56.66%), lower ranked police officers (93%) and police officers with less experience (97%) are suffering from high level of stress. There was a mild significant relationship in between occupational stress and systolic (p= 0.001, r= 0.222), diastolic (p=0.010, r=0.18) blood pressure difference among police officers in Kandy regional area. Conclusion: Police officers in Kandy regional area are suffering from moderate occupational stress level. There was a mild significant relationship in between occupational stress and blood pressure in this sample. As recommendation, necessary action should be implemented to reduce stress level and to introduce positive coping styles to improve mental health and physical health of highly stressful police officers. Assessing the mental and physical health condition of police officers should be done periodically to maintain the quality of health of the employees.