ORIGINAL RESEARCH

published: 07 May 2020

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00587

Burnout and Stress Measurement in

Police Officers: Literature Review
and a Study With the Operational
Police Stress Questionnaire
Cristina Queirós 1* , Fernando Passos 2 , Ana Bártolo 3 , António José Marques 4 ,
Carlos Fernandes da Silva 5 and Anabela Pereira 5
1
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal, 2 Psychology Unit of the Portuguese
National Police, Lisbon, Portugal, 3 Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of
Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal, 4 School of Health of the Polytechnic of Porto, Porto,
Portugal, 5 Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Research has demonstrated that policing is a stressful occupation and that this stress
has a negative impact on police officers’ mental and physical health, performance, and
interactions with citizens. Mental health at the workplace has become a concern due
Edited by: to the costs of depression, anxiety, burnout, and even suicide, which is high among
Konstantinos Papazoglou,
Yale University School of Medicine,
police officers. To ameliorate occupational health, it is therefore crucial to identify stress
United States and burnout levels on a regular basis. However, the instruments frequently used to
Reviewed by: measure stress have not valorized the specificity of policing tasks. This study aims to: (i)
Olivia Carlson-Johnson,
conduct a literature review to identify questionnaires used to assess occupational stress
Institute for Intergovernmental
Research (IIR), United States and burnout among police officers; (ii) analyze the psychometric characteristics of a
Brooke McQuerrey Tuttle, Portuguese version of Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op); and, using
Oklahoma State University,
United States
the PSQ-Op and other questionnaires, (iii) to identify operational stress, burnout, and
Alex Renee Thornton, distress levels among Portuguese police officers. The literature review identified 108
Indiana University, United States
studies which use a multiplicity of questionnaires to measure burnout or occupational
*Correspondence:
stress among police officers, but few studies use specific police stress questionnaires.
Cristina Queirós
[email protected] Sample sizes were mostly below 500 participants and studies were mainly developed
in the last decade in the USA and Brazil, but also in another 24 countries, showing the
Specialty section:
extent of the interest in this topic. This study applied to 2057 police officers from the
This article was submitted to
Organizational Psychology, National Portuguese Police, a force policing urban centers, and used the PSQ-Op, as
a section of the journal well the Spanish Burnout Inventory and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. The
Frontiers in Psychology
results show that the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of PSQ-Op are
Received: 04 January 2020
Accepted: 12 March 2020
adequate. Factorial analysis revealed two dimensions defined as social and work issues,
Published: 07 May 2020 which were associated with measures of distress and burnout. Fit indices suggested a
Citation: second-order solution called operational police stress. Overall, and considering the scale
Queirós C, Passos F, Bártolo A,
range of each questionnaire, the results showed moderate values of operational stress,
Marques AJ, da Silva CF and
Pereira A (2020) Burnout and Stress distress, and burnout. However, considering their cut-off points, 85% of the sample
Measurement in Police Officers: presented high operational stress levels, 11% critical values for burnout, and 28% high
Literature Review and a Study With
the Operational Police Stress
distress levels, with 55% of the sample at risk of a psychological disorder. These results
Questionnaire. reinforce the need to prevent stress and to invest in police officers’ occupational health.
Front. Psychol. 11:587.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00587 Keywords: burnout, distress, operational stress, police officers, questionnaire validation

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

INTRODUCTION manifestations, while Spain2 and Portugal3 have also experienced

several suicides of police officers, which motivated police
According to recent systematic reviews, being a police officer officers to demonstrate in the streets and show their anger
seems to be a highly demanding and stressful occupation, due with job conditions in France4 and Portugal5 . Hard working
to the current characteristics of modern societies. For a police conditions and colleagues’ suicides elicit continuous suffering
officer, those characteristics include: the uncertainty and danger and psychological pain that affects police officers, their families,
related to the permanent threat of terrorist attacks, the increase and their tasks in important domains of urban life: safety
of violence with firearms in urban areas, low human and material and security. Additionally, stressful situations can increase the
resources, team or supervision difficulties, criticism from citizens use of antidepressants, anxiolytics, or tranquilizers to alleviate
and society, and lack of understanding from family or friends psychological suffering, with Portugal being one of the countries
(Cumming et al., 1965; Webster, 2013; Magnavita et al., 2018; where this increased use is the highest in Europe (OECD, 2019),
Purba and Demou, 2019). Numerous studies have tried to map suggesting the need to invest in stress and anxiety prevention and
police officers’ stress and its sources, a topic highlighted in the in occupational health.
1980s by the NIOSH technical report (Hurrell et al., 1984), and Despite the increased number of studies analyzing
in the 1990s by Norvell et al. (1993), whose study focused on occupational stress and burnout among police officers,
the influence of gender differences on law enforcement officers. researchers frequently use measurement instruments developed
Brown and Campbell (1994), Violanti and Aron (1995), and for other professional groups which do not apply to the
Stinchcomb (2004) also studied the sources of policing stress. specificities of police tasks, including emotional labor and
However, this topic has attracted more interest in the last decade, physical risks. This study aims to: (i) conduct a literature
with studies developed, for example, by Hickman et al. (2011), review to identify questionnaires that have been used to assess
Luceño-Moreno et al. (2016), and Violanti et al. (2017), all of occupational stress and burnout among police officers; (ii)
whom continue to identify police officers’ stress sources and its analyze the psychometric characteristics of a Portuguese version
negative impact on police officers’ health and job performance. of Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op), developed
More recently, Baldwin et al. (2019), Wassermann et al. (2019), by McCreary and Thompson (2006), to assess the specificities
and Ermasova et al. (2020) have contributed to the study of police of job stress among police officers; and, using the PSQ-op and
officers’ stress and psychological/physical health. Related studies other questionnaires, (iii) identify operational stress, burnout,
have focused more specifically on occupational stress (e.g., Agolla, and distress levels among Portuguese police officers.
2009; Maran et al., 2015; Gutshall et al., 2017; Johnson et al., Regarding burnout and occupational stress measurement
2019), while others have investigated police officers’ burnout (e.g., among police officers, in the 1970s Freudenberger (1974)
Aguayo et al., 2017; Adams and Mastracci, 2019). and Maslach (1976) identified the symptoms of burnout and
This has led to an increasing interest in police officers’ defined burnout syndrome as a psychological disorder triggered
psychological well-being, with researchers emphasizing the by chronic exposure to work stress. Burnout has attracted
negative impact of working with negative social situations, such considerable interest in the scientific community and has become
as crime and death (Henry, 2004), which can affect mental a concern for workers, being recognized as a serious professional
health and elicit physical fatigue, compassion fatigue, and even hazard and a psychosocial risk at work. The definition presented
moral suffering (Basinska and Wiciak, 2012; Papazoglou, 2016; by Maslach and Jackson (1981) seems to be the most consensual,
Papazoglou et al., 2017, 2020; Violanti et al., 2019). Moreover, and states that burnout is a three-dimensional syndrome that
studies have concluded that job stress has consistently increased affects workers whose job tasks are mainly related to helping and
among police officers in the last decade, and this chronic job delivering care or services to other persons. Burnout is expressed
stress negatively affects both the person and the organization. by emotional exhaustion (feeling fatigued and powerless to
Individually, it leads to poor mental health (Baldwin et al., 2019; provide more support to others), depersonalization (showing
Castro et al., 2019), work-family conflict (Griffin and Sun, 2018), a disengaged, cynical, cold, and unsympathetic attitude toward
non-adaptive coping strategies and job stress (LeBlanc et al., persons at work, especially those who seek help or ask for
2008; Zulkafaly et al., 2017), emotional labor (van Gelderen services), and feelings of low professional achievement (feeling
et al., 2007), burnout (Pines and Keinan, 2005, 2007; Rosa personal and professional inadequacy, and having a higher
et al., 2015), and even suicide (Violanti, 1996; Blazina, 2017; likelihood of committing errors during job tasks). Later, as a
Costa et al., 2019; Grassi et al., 2018). Organizationally, it result of continuous research on burnout (Maslach and Leiter,
affects performance (Shane, 2010; Bertilsson et al., 2019; Kelley 2016, 2017; Maslach, 2017) stated that burnout occurs more
et al., 2019), counterproductive work behaviors (Smoktunowicz
et al., 2015), and inappropriate interactions with citizens, such 2
www.facebook.com/zerosuicidiopolicial/ (January 2020) and https:
as the use of excessive force (Neely and Cleveland, 2011; //www.elespanol.com/reportajes/grandes-historias/20170909/245476036_0.html
Mastracci and Adams, 2019). (September 2017).
3
A number of news sources have recently reported that France1 https://www.publico.pt/2019/07/17/sociedade/noticia/sindicatos-querem-
ministerio-publico-investigue-suicidios-policia-1880178 (July 2019).
faces an increasing number of police officers committing suicide, 4
https://www.euronews.com/2019/10/02/thousands-of-french-police-protest-
especially after the intense work due to the “yellow vests/jackets” for-better-working-conditions-and-answer-to-high-suicid (October 2019).
5
https://sicnoticias.pt/pais/2019-11-21-Dia-de-manifestacao-de-policias-em-
1
https://apnews.com/aa2ac2c871a349ecbdb98313b644634b (August 2019). Lisboa-sob-olema-tolerancia-zero (November 2019).

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

frequently among professionals who work with other persons, (Maslach et al., 2001; Schaufeli, 2017). Burnout is difficult to
especially as service providers where, over the years, they must distinguish from depression since they share similar symptoms
respond to the client’s demands in a society increasingly based on (Bianchi et al., 2015; Golonka et al., 2019; Koutsimani et al., 2019;
service exchanges, which elicits job stress. Bianchi, 2020).
Burnout appears as a response to chronic job stress (Schaufeli, Using instruments that allow burnout and stress to be
2017) and has become an epidemic phenomenon with costs for measured is therefore a vital necessity before designing
workers and organizations, which is a concern that has been intervention programs for resilience, stress management, and
repeatedly highlighted by the European Agency for Safety and burnout or suicide prevention. However, for police officers
Health at Work (EU-OSHA, 2018), namely with its “Healthy as a professional group, those instruments must be chosen
Workplaces” campaign. Moreover, several key organizations carefully, considering the specificity of their policing tasks. To
have reinforced the importance of burnout in modern society. identify the instruments used to measure burnout and stress
On 10 October 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) among police officers, a literature search was performed between
defined mental health in the workplace as the theme for World January and December 2019 on the EBSCO database of scientific
Mental Health Day, highlighting job stress among specific papers, using the following search expression: “police officers”
professional groups, and in 2019 the WHO defined suicide and “burnout or stress” and “instruments or tools or scale or
prevention as the theme6 , alerting the public to the risk of questionnaire or inventory or measurement or assessment or
suicide among specific professional groups. In September 2018, evaluation.” The search found 191 scientific published papers
the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and after removing duplicated references. However, 49 papers were
Working Conditions (EUROFOUND, 2018) published the report focused exclusively on post-traumatic stress disorder; 26 were
“Burnout in the workplace: A review of data and policy responses written in languages other than English, Portuguese, or Spanish,
in the EU,” which found that burnout had become a serious or the complete paper was unavailable; 5 were theoretical papers;
problem in Europe and that measures were needed to assess its and 3 used qualitative methods. Thus, a final number of 108
levels among different occupations. In May 2019, the WHO7 studies were analyzed, identifying the publication year, number
recognized burnout as an occupational phenomenon to be of participants, country of the sample, and instruments used for
included in the next version of the International Classification burnout and stress or occupational stress measurement.
of Diseases. Also in 2019, the European Agency for Safety and Results of the literature review (Table 1) revealed that most
Health at Work (EU-OSHA, 2019a,b) referred again to “The of the studies are recent (Figure 1), though the interest in
value of occupational safety and health and the societal costs of questionnaires to assess burnout or job stress began in the 1970s.
work-related injuries and diseases.” Again in 2019, the results In detail, 11 studies were published between 1979 and 1989,
of the “Third European Survey of Enterprises on New and 13 between 1990 and 1999, 18 between 2000 and 2009, and 66
Emerging Risks (ESENER-3”) reinforced the negative impact of between 2010 and 2019. The samples came from 26 countries
job stress and the importance of occupation health in preventing (Figure 2), mostly the USA (33), but Brazil appears with 12
occupational stress among other psychosocial risks, a topic that studies, 4 or 5 studies were found in the UK, Poland, India,
the WHO8 also highlighted. Canada, Spain, and the Netherlands, and 2 or 3 in Switzerland,
According to Lazaus and Folkman (1984, p. 21), Sweden, Portugal, Taiwan, Jamaica, Italy, Greece, Germany, and
“psychological stress, therefore, is a relationship between Finland. Three papers used samples from several countries in
the person and the environment that is appraised by the person the same study. Finally, countries with only one study included
as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering Thailand, Sri Lanka, South Korea, South Africa, Pakistan,
his or her well-being.” Based on this definition, the concept of Lithuania, Israel, and China. These data express the global
stress at the workplace, job stress, or occupational stress can be interest of scientific research in stress among police officers.
defined as a “pattern of physiological, emotional, cognitive, and The sample sizes varied between 11 and 13,146 participants
behavioral responses that occur when workers are presented (M = 595; SD = 1358.56). However, a more detailed analysis
with work demands not matched to their knowledge, skills, (Figure 3) revealed that 28 studies sampled 11–95 participants,
or abilities and which challenge their ability to cope” (Patel 24 studies sampled 101–289, 20 studies sampled 305–489, 22
et al., 2017, p. 1), negatively influencing the worker’s wellbeing, studies sampled 500–951, and 13 studies sampled 1000–4500
performance, and productivity (Quick and Henderson, 2016). participants. One study collected data from 13,146 police officers
Moreover, stress, especially job stress and occupational stress, are in the USA (McCarty et al., 2019).
related and can predict burnout, since job stress can result from The analysis of measurement instruments revealed that 51
the relationship between job demands and job resources, or from studies measured burnout (Figure 4), with the Maslach Burnout
the effort-reward imbalance (Peiró et al., 2001; Lin et al., 2013; Inventory being prevalent (32 studies), while the Oldenburg
Chirico, 2016; Patel et al., 2017; Salvagioni et al., 2017; Wang Burnout Inventory was used in five studies. Three studies
et al., 2017). Furthermore, burnout can be a long-term process of used other measures or developed questionnaires adapted from
resource depletion and inadequate responses to chronic job stress other instruments, while nine studies used specific but different
burnout measures. Measures of job stress were found (Figure 5)
6
https://www.who.int/mental_health/world-mental-health-day/en/. in 72 studies: six used the Perceived Stress Scale, four used
7
https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/burn-out/en/. the Lipp Stress Inventory (from Brazil), five used the Police
8
https://www.who.int/occupational_health/topics/stressatwp/en/. Stress Questionnaire, and 11 used several different police stress

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

TABLE 1 | Studies using questionnaires to measure burnout or occupational stress of police officers.

References Year Country Sample (N) Burnout measure Stress measure

Adams and Mastracci 2019 USA 271 Maslach Burnout Inventory

(2019) (MBI; Maslach et al.)
Alberti et al. (2016) 2016 Spain 74 MBI
Albuerne et al. (2015) 2015 Spain 462 Social Work Stress Appreciation Scale
Almeida et al. (2018) 2018 Brazil 519 Escala de Stresse no Trabalho (Paschoal and Tamayo)
Anshel and Brinthaupt 2014 USA 11 Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen et al.)
(2014)
Anson et al. (1997) 1997 USA 48 Personalized Assessment Stress Scale (PASS; Morse
and Frost)
Antoniou (2009) 2009 Greece 512 Antoniou Police Stress Inventory (Karanika-Murray
et al.)
Arnetz et al. (2013) 2013 Sweden 75 Bodily Symptom Scale (Petterson et al.) Exaustion
Questionnaire (Appels et al.)
Baka (2015) 2015 Poland 625 Oldenburg Burnout Inventory
(OLBI; Demerouti et al.)
Bakker and Heuven 2006 Netherlands 101 MBI
(2006)
Basinska and Wiciak 2012 Poland 89 OLBI
(2012)
Basinska and 2019 Poland 234 OLBI
Daderman (2019)
Basinska et al. (2014) 2014 Poland 169 OLBI
Bergman et al. (2016) 2016 USA 47 Police Stress Questionnaire (McCreary and Thompson)
Brown and Cooper 1996 UK 500 Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI)
(1996)
Brown and Fielding 1993 UK 489 Occupational stress inventory (Davidson and Cooper)
(1993)
Burke (1993) 1993 Canada 828 MBI Job-Related Stress
Burke (1994) 1994 Canada 828 MBI
Burke and Deszca 1986 Canada 828 MBI Sources of Experienced Stress Stressful Life Events
(1986)
Burke and Mikkelsen 2005 Norway 766 MBI
(2005)
Burke and Mikkelsen 2006 Norway 766 MBI
(2006)
Burke et al. (1984) 1984 Canada 426 MBI Sources of Experienced Stress Stressful Life Events
Carvalho et al. (2008) 2008 Brazil 394 PSS Stress Symptoms Inventory (SSI)
Charles et al. (2011) 2011 USA 430 PSS
Chen (2009) 2009 Taiwan 156 Job stress scale for intra-organization and
extra-organization factors
Chitra and Karunanidhi 2018 India 250 Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI)
(2018)
Chongruksa et al. 2012 Thailand 42 Symptoms Checklist 90 (SCL-90)
(2012)
Collins and Gibbs 2003 UK 1206 General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)
(2003)
Couto et al. (2012) 2012 Brazil 327 Lipp Stress Symptoms Inventory (LSSI, Lipp)
Daderman and Colli 2014 Sweden 101 Coping Resources Inventory (CRI)
(2014)
Ellrich (2016) 2016 Germany 1742 MBI
Euwema et al. (2004) 2004 Netherlands 358 MBI
Figueiredo-Ferraz et al. 2014 Portugal 245 Spanish Burnout Inventory (Gil-
(2014) Monte)
Garbarino and 2019 India 852 Burnout Inventory (BI-MK, Occupational Stress Index (OSI)
Magnavita (2019) Misra)
Garbarino et al. (2013) 2013 Italy 289 Demand/control/support (DCS; Karasek) Effort/reward
imbalance (ERI; Siegrist)

(Continued)

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

TABLE 1 | Continued

References Year Country Sample (N) Burnout measure Stress measure

Gerber et al. (2010a) 2010 Switzerland 460 Trier Inventory for the Assessment of Chronic Stress
(TICS; Schulz et al.)
Gerber et al. (2010b) 2010 Switzerland 533 Trier Inventory for the Assessment of Chronic Stress
(TICS; Schulz et al.)
Gershon et al. (2009) 2009 USA 1072 Police Stress Scale and Police Coping Scale (Beehr
et al.)
Gomes and Afonso 2016 Portugal 95 Global Level of Stress (Kyriacou)
(2016)
Goodman (1990) 1990 USA 199 Staff Burnout Scale for Police Police Officer History Questionnaire (Goodman)
and Security Officers (SBS-PS;
Jones)
Griffin and Sun (2018) 2018 USA 138 MBI PSS
Gutshall et al. (2017) 2017 USA 32 MBI PSS
Hartley et al. (2013) 2013 USA 452 PSS Spielberger Police Stress Survey (Spielberger
et al.)
Hassell et al. (2011) 2011 USA 87 Stress assessed by five items
Hawkins (2001) 2001 USA 452 MBI
Houdmont (2013) 2013 UK 139 MBI
Hu et al. (2017) 2017 Chine 273 MBI Questionnaire on the Experience and Evaluation of
Work (Hu et al.)
Husain et al. (2014) 2014 Pakistan 315 Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (Lovibond and
Lovibond)
Kaplan et al. (2017) 2017 USA 72 PSS Police Stress Questionnaire (McCreary and
Thompson)
Kirkcaldy (1993) 1993 USA, Spain, 42 Occupational Stress Indicator (Cooper et al.)
Germany, UK,
Ireland, Holland,
Finland, Denmark
Kirkcaldy and Cooper 1992 Germany North 156 Occupational Stress Indicator (Cooper et al.)
(1992) Ireland
Kirkcaldy et al. (1994) 1994 Germany North 156 Occupational Stress Indicator (Cooper et al.)
Ireland
Kirkcaldy et al. (1995) 1995 UK 533 Occupational Stress Indicator (Cooper et al.)
Kop and Euwema 2001 Netherlands 358 MBI
(2001)
Kop et al. (1999) 1999 Netherlands 358 MBI
Korre et al. (2014) 2014 USA 951 Daily perceived stress level
Kuo (2014) 2014 Taiwan 1315 Identification of job stressors
Kwak et al. (2018) 2018 South Korea 466 MBI
Lambert et al. (2017) 2017 India 827 Burnout questions (adapted Job stress (Crank et al)
from Wright and Saylor)
Lambert et al. (2019) 2019 India 1000 Wright and Salyor burnout
measures
Lester (1982a) 1982 USA 73 Subjective level of stress from job conditions
Lester (1982b) 1982 USA 41 Self-evaluation of stress questionnaire (Willcher)
Lester and Mink (1979) 1979 USA 15 Identification of job stressors
Lester and Solis (1980) 1980 USA 20 Self-evaluation of stress questionnaire (Willcher)
Lester et al. (1984) 1984 USA 55 Stress Profile (Girdano and Everly)
Lester et al. (1985) 1985 USA 48 Eight stress tests (Girdano and Everly)
Levitov and Thompson 1981 USA 250 Self Report Form (Cattell)
(1981)
Lima et al. (2018) 2018 Brazil 80 Burnout Questionnaire (based
on MBI; Jbeili)
Lipp (2009) 2019 Brazil 418 Lipp Stress Symptoms Inventory (LSSI, Lipp) Police
Officers Stressors Questionnaire (POSQ)

(Continued)

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

TABLE 1 | Continued

References Year Country Sample (N) Burnout measure Stress measure

Lipp et al. (2017) 2017 Brazil 1837 Lipp Stress Symptoms Inventory (LSSI, Lipp) Job
Stressor Sources Inventory (IFET)
Louw (2014) 2014 South Africa 505 Shirom–Melamed burnout
measure (SMBM)
Lucas et al. (2012) 2012 USA 115 Police Stress Survey (Spielberger et al.)
Maran et al. (2015) 2015 Italy 617 Police Stress Questionnaire Distress Thermometer
Maria et al. (2019) 2019 Germany 811 Copenhagen Burnout Inventory
(CBI; Kristensen et al.)
Martinussen et al. 2007 Norway 223 MBI
(2007)
McCarty et al. (2007) 2007 USA 1100 Questions about stress symptoms and stress sources
McCarty et al. (2019) 2019 USA 13146 MBI Law Enforcement Organizational Survey C (LEO C)
Nelson and Smith 2016 Jamaica 134 Well-being Process Questionnaire (WPQ)
(2016)
Padyab et al. (2016) 2016 Sweden 1554 MBI Stress of Conscience Questionnaire (SCQ)
Papazoglou et al. 2018 Finland 1173 Compassion Fatigue Test;
(2018) Compassion Satisfaction and
Fatigue Self-Test for Helpers
(CSF)
Patterson (1992) 1992 USA 4500 Spielberger’s Police Stress Survey
Patterson (2003) 2003 USA 233 Police stress questions (based on Spielberger’s Police
Stress Survey) Psychological distress (based on
CES-D; Radloff)
Pelegrini et al. (2018) 2018 Brazil 84 Job Stress Scale
Perez et al. (2010) 2010 USA 28 MBI
Pines and Keinan 2007 Israel 1010 Burnout Measure Short (BMS, Self-Report Questionnaire of Stressors
(2007) Pines)
Queirós et al. (2013) 2013 Portugal 274 MBI
Romosiou et al. (2018) 2018 Greece 77 PSS
Roz and Raval (2017) 2017 India 852 Burnout Inventory (BI-MK; Occupational Stress Index (OSI)
Misra)
Russell et al. (2014) 2014 USA 482 MBI Stress (Spielberger et al.)
Santana et al. (2012) 2012 Brazil 53 Lipp Stress Symptoms Inventory (LSSI, Lipp)
Sarason et al. (1979) 1979 USA 18 Inventory of Hostility (Endler and Hunt)
Schaible and Gecas 2010 USA 109 MBI Emotional Labor Scale (Best et al.); Emotional Work
(2010) Requirements Scale Community-oriented policing
dissonance subscales
Schilling et al. (2019) 2019 Switzerland 201 Shirom–Melamed Burnout PSS
Measure (SMBM)
Schlichting et al. (2014) 2014 Brazil 1069 Occupational Stress Indicators (OSI)
Shipley and Baranski 2002 Canada 54
(2002)
Silveira et al. (2005) 2005 Brazil 60 MBI
Smoktunowicz et al. 2015 Poland 625 Oldenburg Burnout Inventory Quantitative Workload Inventory (Spector and Jex)
(2015) (OLBI; Demerouti et al.) Psychosocial Working Conditions Questionnaire
(Widerszal-Bazyl and Cieslak)
Solana et al. (2013) 2013 Spain 747 MBI
Summerlin et al. (2010) 2010 USA 787 Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op and PSQ-Org)
Talavera-Velasco et al. 2018 Spain 223 MBI DECORE-21 (Talavera)
(2018)
Tang and Hammontree 1992 USA 60 Police Stress Survey (Spielberger et al.)
(1992)
Tavares and Lautert 2017 Brazil 416 Questions about stress and cortisol
(2017)
Trombka et al. (2018) 2018 Brazil 16 MBI BCSQ-12 Burnout Clinical PSQ Police Stress Questionnaire
Subtype Questionnaire
(Montero-Marin et al.)

(Continued)

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

TABLE 1 | Continued

References Year Country Sample (N) Burnout measure Stress measure

Vuorensyrja and Malkia 2011 Finland 2821 Bergen Burnout Indicator Police Personnel Barometer (PPB)
(2011) (BBI-15)
White et al. (1985) 1985 USA 355 MBI Police Stress Inventory (Spielberger et al.)
Wickramasinghe and 2018 Sri Lanka 750 Burnout Clinical Subtype
Wijesinghe (2018) Questionnaire (BCSQ-36)
Wray and Jarrett (2019) 2019 Jamaica 305 MBI
Zukauskas et al. (2009) 2009 Lithuania 314 Specific questions for job stress in Lithuania

FIGURE 1 | Distribution of papers according year of publication.

questionnaires. However, 10 studies used several occupational cut-off points. Since some studies used global measures of
stress inventories, 15 used several job stress questionnaires, 15 stress or stress symptoms, it was decided to also use the short
used several stress questionnaires, and six used other instruments questionnaire Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), which
assessing health symptoms other than stress. This review revealed has a recent Portuguese version (Pereira et al., 2019). Thus,
the proliferation of stress measures, although some studies this study can contribute to the development of a Portuguese
already used specific police stress questionnaires. It can be version of a specific police stress instrument, and to identify
concluded that measuring burnout and stress among police stress and burnout levels of a sample of police officers using
officers is a concern for the scientific community. validated instruments.
In Portugal, for burnout measurement among police officers, a
study used the Spanish Burnout Inventory (Gil-Monte, 2011) and
demonstrated that this questionnaire had adequate psychometric MATERIALS AND METHODS
properties for a sample of Portuguese police officers (Figueiredo-
Ferraz et al., 2014). Another study (Queirós et al., 2013) used Participants
the Maslach Burnout Inventory, analyzing only Cronbach’s The sample was composed of 2057 police officers of the
alphas but not validating a Portuguese version. Regarding Portuguese National Police (Polícia de Segurança Pública, PSP),
stress measurement, one study used a global measure of stress a police force that works only in the cities of all 18 Portuguese
(Gomes and Afonso, 2016), but no studies were found with districts and the Azores and Madeira Islands. The sample
specific stress measures for policing. Following the analysis of constitutes nearly 10% of this force and all districts were
the specific stress instruments found in the literature review, represented: Lisbon contributed 45% of the sample, Porto 19%,
we decided to translate and validate a Portuguese version Setubal 6%, Faro and Azores 4%, Madeira 3%, and other districts
of the Police Stress Questionnaire for operational stress. The between 0.3 and 2.5%.
Police Stress Questionnaire (McCreary and Thompson, 2006) Regarding police officers’ positions, 78.8% were in the
is a short measure (20 items) allowing for the assessment of “agent” category (the lowest-ranking officer), 14.6% were “chief,”
operational or organizational police stress, it is freely available and 6.5% commander (the highest rank). The most frequent
for research purposes and has established stress levels with tasks were patrolling (52%), criminal investigation (17%), and

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

FIGURE 2 | Distribution of papers according country of the study.

road traffic management (13%). Other participants worked in Measures

integrated special police units, rapid intervention teams, specific The questionnaire was composed of four major groups of
proximity teams (e.g., schools or elderly safety programs), questions, the first characterizing the sociodemographic data
administrative services, and commander teams. (age, sex, job experience, district, position, and job task).
The age of the participants varied between 21 and 65 years old The second group was composed of the Operational Police
(M = 42.47; SD = 8.785), with 33.4% between 21 and 38 years, Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op), developed by McCreary and
32.5% between 39 and 45, and the rest between 46 and 65. Job Thompson (2004, 2006) to assess the specificities of job stress
experience in the Portuguese National Police varied between 1 among police officers both for operational and organizational
and 41 years (M = 19.267; SD = 9.036), with 32.3% of the sample stress sources (PSQ-Op and PSQ-Org). This study used the
between 1 and 14 years, 34.7% between 15 and 23 years, and the operational stress sources only. The PSQ-Op questionnaire is
rest between 24 and 41 years. Regarding gender, 92% were men composed of 20 items evaluated on a 7-point scale ranging
and 8% women, while overall women represent nearly 10% of the from 1 (“not at all stressful” or “no stress at all”) to 7 (“very
police force. To avoid the possible identification of individuals stressful” or “a lot of stress”), with 4 indicating moderate stress.
from the matching of position, age, gender, and district, no The authors were contacted by email to obtain permission for
statistical analyses were performed that combined these data, and the Portuguese version, but no answer was obtained for the
no other sociodemographic data were collected. PSQ-Op as it is provided free for non-commercial, educational,

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

FIGURE 3 | Distribution of papers according sample size.

FIGURE 4 | Distribution of papers according burnout measurement instrument.

and research purposes9 . In later developments, McCreary et al. into English and compared it with the original version. Finally,
(2017) established norms and cut-off values, with values below these three researchers discussed each item with two police
2.0 indicating low stress, between 2.1 and 3.4 moderate stress, officers (a patrol police officer and a police station commander)
and above 3.5 high stress. As far as we know, no Portuguese until a lexical and cultural consensus was obtained, including
version of the PSQ-Op has been published, and two psychologists suggestions from the police officers to add some examples
(one conducting research about policing and police forces, adapted for Portuguese situations (Table 2). A pilot study was
another working with police officers) translated the questionnaire performed with 20 police officers to ensure that the questionnaire
into Portuguese. Another researcher, unfamiliar with police was easy to complete and was applicable to the Portuguese
officers’ work, subsequently back-translated the questionnaire situation, and no major changes were made.
The third group of questions was composed from the
9
https://www.midss.org/sites/default/files/psq-op.pdf. Spanish Burnout Inventory (SBI, Gil-Monte, 2011), using a

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

FIGURE 5 | Distribution of papers according stress measurement instrument.

Portuguese version already tested on police officers, having items that assess the frequency of non-specific psychological
demonstrated adequate psychometric properties (Figueiredo- distress symptoms during the last month, being a self-report
Ferraz et al., 2014). This instrument considers burnout as measure based on questions about the symptoms of anxiety
a process of cognitive and emotional deterioration, involving and depression. All items are assessed on a 5-point scale
attitudes of indifference and guilt (Gil-Monte and Manzano- (1 = “none of the time” to 5 = “all of the time”) and
García, 2015). It includes 20 items organized on four scales: (1) the sum of the scores indicates the stress level, where high
enthusiasm for the job (demonstrating, for instance, the ambition scores correspond to high stress levels. Using this sum it
to accomplish a person’s professional goals because they are a is possible to identify cut-off points of stress levels, where
source of personal achievement); (2) psychological exhaustion 10–15 points correspond to “low distress,” 16–21 points to
(emotional and physical exhaustion related to job tasks, increased “moderate,” 22–29 points to “high,” and 30–50 points to “very
by dealing every day with people who present difficulties or high.” Values between 22 and 50 points indicate a risk of
problems); (3) indolence (negative attitudes of indifference and developing a psychological disorder (Andrews and Slade, 2001;
cynicism when dealing with persons demanding things related to Pereira et al., 2019).
a person’s job tasks); and (4) guilt (negative feelings, behaviors,
and attitudes in the workplace, elicited by interactions during Procedure
labor relations). Each item is assessed by a 5-point frequency After formal authorization by the Directorate of the Portuguese
scale ranging from 0 (never) to 4 (very frequent or every day). National Police to develop the study and collect data among
Low scores on Enthusiasm for the Job, along with high scores the police officers, an online questionnaire was prepared on
on Psychological Exhaustion, Indolence, and Guilt, indicate high Google Forms with a link inviting participation in a study
levels of burnout. Scores for each of the four scales are calculated of burnout and occupational stress among police officers.
using the mean of the items that compose each scale, and a The Directorate disseminated this link to the police officers
global score for burnout is then calculated after reversing the using their professional email addresses. There was no direct
items of the Enthusiasm scale. According to Poletto et al. (2016), contact between participants and researchers, and data were
it is possible to use percentile analysis to identify burnout at collected in September and October 2019. No exclusion criteria
very low levels (P ≤ 10), low levels (11 < P ≤ 33), moderate existed, and participation was voluntary. The participation
levels (34 < P ≤ 66), high levels (67 < P ≤ 89), and critical rate was nearly 10% of the number of police officers that
levels (P ≥ 90). constitute this police force. Researchers were unable to identify
The fourth and last group of questions was composed how many police officers read the email and/or followed
from the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), from the link and decided not to participate. This study was
Kessler et al. (2002, 2003). We used the Portuguese version carried out in accordance with the recommendations of
by Pereira et al. (2019), who described K10 as having 10 the Ethics guidelines of the FPCEUP Ethics Committee,

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

TABLE 2 | PSQ-Op original and Portuguese versions.

Original PSP-Op (McCreary and Thompson (2006)) Portuguese version of PSQ-Op

No stress at all Moderate stress A lot of stress Nenhum stress Stress moderado Muito stress
1 4 7 1 4 7

1. Shift work 1. Trabalhar por turnos

2. Working alone at night 2. Trabalhar sozinho à noite
3. Over-time demands 3. Exigências relacionadas com horas extra ou serviço imprevisto
4. Risk of being injured on the job 4. Risco ou possibilidade de ser ferido durante o trabalho
5. Work related activities on days off (e.g., court, community events) 5. Ter atividades relacionadas com o trabalho em dias de folga (ex.:
comparecer em tribunal, eventos na comunidade)
6. Traumatic events (e.g., MVA, domestics, death, injury) 6. Acontecimentos traumáticos (ex.: acidentes rodoviários, violência
doméstica, mortes, agressões)
7. Managing your social life outside of work 7. Gerir a sua vida social fora do trabalho
8. Not enough time available to spend with friends and family 8. Ter pouco tempo disponível para passar com os amigos ou família
9. Paperwork 9. Aspetos burocráticos do serviço (ex.: relatórios)
10. Eating healthy at work 10. Conseguir comer de forma saudável no trabalho
11. Finding time to stay in good physical condition 11. Conseguir arranjar tempo para ficar em boa forma física
12. Fatigue (e.g., shift work, over-time) 12. Andar cansado (ex.: por trabalhar por turnos, horas extraordinárias)
13. Occupation-related health issues (e.g., back pain) 13. Ter problemas de saúde relacionados com a profissão (ex.: dores de costas
ou dores nas pernas por patrulhar a pé)
14. Lack of understanding from family and friends about your work 14. Falta de compreensão da família e amigos em relação às exigências do seu
trabalho
15. Making friends outside the job 15. Conseguir fazer amigos fora do trabalho
16. Upholding a “higher image” in public 16. Conseguir manter uma boa imagem na sociedade
17. Negative comments from the public 17. Escutar comentários negativos por parte dos cidadãos
18. Limitations to your social life (e.g., who your friends are, where you socialize) 18. Ter limitações na sua vida social (ex.: quem são os seus amigos, locais
onde convive)
19. Feeling like you are always on the job 19. Sentir-se como se estivesse sempre a trabalhar
20. Friends/family feel the effects of the stigma associated with your job 20. Os amigos e família sentirem os efeitos do estigma associado à sua
profissão
The Operational Police Stress Questionnaire is provided free for O Questionário de Stress Operacional é de acesso livre para efeitos de uso não
non-commercial, educational, and research purposes. Cite as: comercial, educacional e investigação. Citar como:
- McCreary, D.R., and Thompson, M.M. (2013). The Operational Police Stress - versão original de: McCreary, D. R., and Thompson, M. M. (2013). The
Questionnaire (PSQ-Op). Measurement Instrument Database for the Social Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op). Measurement Instrument
Science. Retrieved from www.midss.ie Database for the Social Science. Retrieved from www.midss.ie
- Queirós, C., Passos, F., Bártolo, A., Marques, A. J., Silva, C. F., and Pereira,
A. (2020). Burnout and stress measurement in police officers: literature review
and a study with the operational police stress questionnaire. Front. Psychol.
11, 587. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00587.

having online informed consent from all participants in randomly split into two samples through the randomization
accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Thus, before function in SPSS. With the first part of the sample (n = 636),
responding to the questionnaire, participants were asked to an EFA using Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) with direct
provide their informed consent, with the notification that data oblimin rotation was conducted to identify a viable factor
would be gathered anonymously. Data were accessed by one structure by extracting the minimum number of factors that
researcher only, who downloaded the Excel file and converted explained the maximum variance in the 20-item scale. With
it to SPSS format. the remaining sample, a CFA was performed to verify if the
solution obtained from the EFA presented an acceptable fit.
Data Analysis The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), the
Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package comparative fit index (CFI), and the standardized root mean
for Social Sciences, version 24 (SPSS Inc., Chicago) and square residual (SRMR) were the three indicators used to evaluate
Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) version 24. In the first the model’s fit. An acceptable-fit model was determined if
stage, preliminary analyses were conducted in order to assess RMSEA ≤ 0.08, CFI > 0.90, and SRMR < 0.10 (Kline, 2005).
descriptive statistics, and normality and non-multicollinearity The chi-square test (χ2 ) was reported for completeness, but
at item level. To test the factorial structure of the PSQ-Op, not used to check the model fit due to its sensibility to large
we used a combination of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) samples (Kelloway, 1995). Based on the multivariate normality
and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The sample was violations, CFA used the maximum likelihood estimation with

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

bootstrapping (1000 resamples). The Bollen-Stine bootstrap police force and citizens’ negative comments; the other
p was an index fit also reported. Alternative factor models eleven items included content that reflected work issues
were generated and tested according to the modification (items related to specific details of policing tasks such
indexes (MI > 11). as shift work, paperwork, injuries, fatigue, and traumatic
Convergent validity was assessed by computing the average events). These two factors together (social issues and
variance extracted with values of AVE ≥ 0.50 indicating work issues) accounted for 60.30% of the total variance.
satisfactory validity. In turn, in order to investigate the A good internal consistency for each factor was estimated
evidence of discriminant validity, we examined whether the AVE using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients: factor 1, α = 0.937 and
values were equal to or greater than the squared correlation factor 2, α = 0.933.
between the factors (r2 DV ) (Maroco, 2014). Following the model
specification, reliability was investigated using (a) Cronbach’s Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)
alpha coefficient and (b) composite reliability for each factor and Two-Factor Model
for the overall scale. Mardia’s coefficient for the PSQ-Op was 181.19, indicating
Finally, the relationship between the PSQ-Op dimensions violation of the multivariate normality, so a maximum likelihood
and distress and burnout symptoms was determined from the estimation with bootstrapping was used to generate accurate
Pearson correlation coefficients including the entire sample, as estimations of standard errors (bias-corrected at the 95%
well as the descriptive statistics, which allowed us to identify confidence level). The two-factor model derived from EFA
burnout, distress, and operational stress levels. was then cross-validated on 1421 participants retained from
the entire sample. This solution was run and demonstrated a
marginal fit, since the CFI value was above 0.87 and RMSEA
RESULTS and SRMR values were below 0.10 (Bong et al., 2013). The
factor loadings of items were above 0.65 (Table 5). The Bollen-
Since there are no specific measures for operational stress
Stine value (p = 0.001) suggested a poor fit (p > 0.05 according
among police officers, it was necessary to evaluate the
to Bollen and Stine, 1992), but this result might have been
psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of
affected by the large sample size. High correlations between
the PSQ-Op before identifying burnout, distress, and
factors were observed.
operational stress levels.
Convergent and Discriminant Validity Evidence
Preliminary Analysis: Item Properties Values of AVE indicated the construct’s convergent evidence.
As shown in Table 3, all possible Likert-scale answer values AVE was determined for social issues (AVE = 0.59) and work
for each item were observed. The mean for most items was issues (AVE = 0.54). Concerning the discriminant validity, AVE
close to 5. The overall mean response for the 20 items was of the factors was compared to the r2 DV . AVE for the two
4.97 (SD = 0.45) No deviations from the normal distribution scales was smaller than r2 DV=0.76 . These data confirmed that
were found considering skewness (Sk, < 3.0) and kurtosis the factors are strongly related to each other, indicating that a
(Ku, ≤ 7.0) absolute values (Byrne, 2016). All items presented unidimensional model or a second-order latent model may be
significant positive corrected item-total correlations (≥0.40) admissible solutions.
and low variation in reliability if the item was deleted.
Inter-correlations among all items were significant and no Unidimensional and Second-Order Models
multicollinearity was obtained (0.390 ≤ r ≤ 0.731) (Tabachnick A single latent model where the factor of operational police
and Fidell, 2001). Based on this analysis, 20 items were retained stress loads on all 20 items presented a poor fit. Higher error
for subsequent analyses. covariance was observed in more than 50% of the items. Based on
this result, no additional covariance paths were allowed between
Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) error terms. Thus, we examined fit indices for a second-order
In order to examine the factor structure, an EFA was solution called operational police stress (Table 5), integrating
conducted based on a randomized split of the data in the the social and work issues. Based on the high modification
sample (n = 636). EFA using principal axis factor analysis indices, allowing errors to covary for items 3 and 5, 4 and 6,
with promax rotation determined the factor structure of 10 and 11, and 15 and 16 improved the model fit. The PSQ-
the 20 items of the questionnaire. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Op second-order construct (Figure 6) presented an acceptable
(KMO) measure presented a value of 0.964 and Bartlett’s fit based on the values of CFI, RMSEA, and SRMR fit indices.
test of sphericity was significant (χ2 = 9621.92, p < 0.001), All factor loadings were statistically significant (p < 001). The
validating the correlation matrix structure. EFA yielded constrained structural weights from operational police stress
a 20-item measure with a two-factor solution (Table 4): to social and work factors were high (Ý = 0.89, Ý = 0.98,
nine items included content related to social issues (items p < 0.001, respectively).
7, 8, and 14–20), which expressed the feeling that a police
officer is always on the job, as well as facing difficulties Internal Consistency Evidence
in managing personal life or balancing work and family, To examine the reliability of the scores in the final model,
and having to deal with the public/social image of the we used Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and composite

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

TABLE 3 | Descriptive statistics about PSQ-Op items (n = 2057).

Item M Min Max SD Skewness Kurtosis Corrected item-total correlation Cronbach’s alpha if item deleted

1 5.19 1 7 1.764 −0.747 −0.330 0.664 0.955

2 5.36 1 7 1.863 −0.942 −0.231 0.631 0.956
3 5.46 1 7 1.648 −0.932 −0.031 0.630 0.955
4 5.08 1 7 1.809 −0.613 −0.673 0.562 0.955
5 5.53 1 7 1.681 −1.052 0.210 0.596 0.955
6 5.14 1 7 1.750 −0.739 −0.467 0.544 0.955
7 4.34 1 7 1.884 −0.199 −1.038 0.557 0.955
8 5.27 1 7 1.676 −0.763 −0.331 0.586 0.954
9 4.92 1 7 1.707 −0.548 −0.607 0.451 0.955
10 5.15 1 7 1.752 −0.749 −0.396 0.633 0.955
11 4.94 1 7 1.730 −0.567 −0.586 0.616 0.955
12 5.57 1 7 1.574 −1.025 0.260 0.681 0.954
13 5.21 1 7 1.740 −0.782 −0.363 0.571 0.954
14 4.56 1 7 1.861 −0.362 −0.928 0.561 0.955
15 4.02 1 7 1.995 −0.037 −1.207 0.650 0.955
16 4.13 1 7 1.992 −0.123 −1.175 0.630 0.955
17 5.21 1 7 1.758 −0.736 −0.551 0.545 0.955
18 4.50 1 7 1.915 −0.293 −1.063 0.722 0.954
19 5.03 1 7 1.792 −0.637 −0.647 0.670 0.954
20 4.76 1 7 1.837 −0.459 −0.847 0.660 0.954

TABLE 4 | Factors extracted from the exploratory factor analysis (EFA): communalities and factor loadings (n = 636).

Pattern Matrix Structure Matrix

Item Communality F1 F2 F1 F2

1 0.583 0.810 0.540 0.763

2 0.551 0.833 0.492 0.737
3 0.706 0.902 0.586 0.838
4 0.521 0.713 0.543 0.722
5 0.582 0.713 0.597 0.762
6 0.512 0.671 0.558 0.715
7 0.567 0.660 0.749 0.611
8 0.517 0.406 0.677 0.666
9 0.479 0.452 0.623 0.665
10 0.575 0.481 0.687 0.726
11 0.547 0.420 0.684 0.696
12 0.680 0.701 0.679 0.818
13 0.607 0.528 0.695 0.753
14 0.605 0.713 0.776 0.615
15 0.659 0.948 0.801 0.509
16 0.633 0.825 0.795 0.574
17 0.547 0.606 0.731 0.619
18 0.784 0.938 0.884 0.626
19 0.701 0.723 0.831 0.684
20 0.705 0.781 0.838 0.658
Explained variance – 54.48% 5.83%
Factor correlation 0.745

Bolded values highligthed the factor where the item was considered in the Structure Matrix.

reliability. Good internal consistency was obtained in the reliability coefficients presented values of 0.92 and 0.93
higher-order construct (α = 0.96) and, simultaneously, respectively for factors with content related to work
for the first-order factors (α = 0.93). Composite and social issues.

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

TABLE 5 | Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA): fit indexes for each model tested (n = 1421).

Model χ2 df Bollen-Stine p CFI RMSEA RMSEA 90% CI SRMR

Two-factor 2357.96*** 169 0.001 0.890 0.096 (0.092–0.099) 0.051

One-factor 3221.37*** 170 0.001 0.847 0.112 (0.109–0.116) 0.057
Second-order with correlated errorsa 1551.56*** 165 0.001 0.930 0.077 (0.073–0.080) 0.044

***p < 0.001; a Added path between error terms for items 3 and 5, 4 and 6, 10 and 11, 15 and 16,; χ2 -chi-square; CFI, Comparative Fit Index; RMSEA, Root Mean
Square Error of Approximation, SRMR, Standardized Root Mean Square Residual.

FIGURE 6 | Final confirmatory factor analysis: second-order model with correlated errors.

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

Relationship of PSQ-Op Factors to presented a high level and 10.6% a critical level for Psychological
Distress and Burnout Exhaustion. For Indolence, those values were respectively 21.8
and 9.7% for Guilt, 20.3 and 8.9%, and for Burnout 21.9
The PSQ-Op dimensions obtained from the factorial analysis
and 10.7%. Finally, for Distress, 21.2% presented low stress,
were associated with measures of distress and burnout for
26.5% high stress, and 28% very high stress, with 54.5% at
the overall sample (Table 6). Positive and moderate to
risk of developing a psychological disorder. This suggests the
strong correlations (Ratner, 2009) were found, demonstrating
importance of using cut-off points for each instrument, since they
the convergent validity of this tool (except for Guilt where
allow us to obtain more detailed information.
correlations were weaker). Higher scores on operational police
stress dimensions, such as problems directly related to working
conditions and to the impact of work on family and social life,
were associated with increased scores in other scales of distress DISCUSSION
and burnout, except for Enthusiasm, which presented negative
The literature review showed that the most used psychological
correlations. Considering the correlation values, it seems that
measures are not specific nor validated for the specificities
social-related issues contributes most for burnout and distress
of policing tasks. A previous study (Figueiredo-Ferraz et al.,
compared to work-related issues.
2014) demonstrated that the Spanish Burnout Inventory
has adequate psychometric properties for police officers.
Psychological Indicators Furthermore, the Portuguese version of the Police Stress
Analyses of all the questionnaire scales (Table 7) revealed that the Questionnaire for operational stress also revealed adequate
sample presented at least one participant with the minimum or psychometric properties, having a second-order construct but
maximum value allowed by the scales’ range. The mean values for also the possibility to consider two scales that measure work-
operational stress were moderate, being higher for Social-related related issues and social-related issues. However, Irniza et al.
issues than for Operational stress global score and Work-related (2014) found a unidimensional construct on PSQ-Op for Malay
issues. Moderate mean values were also found for burnout, police officers.
being higher for Psychologic Exhaustion and Indolence than for Using those two measures combined with a short measure
Enthusiasm and Burnout, while Guilt presented a low value. of distress, it was possible to identify burnout, distress, and
Finally, moderate values were found for Distress, being higher operational stress among a large national sample of Portuguese
(proportionally) for Anxiety and Distress than for Depression, police officers, representing nearly 10% of the entire Portuguese
though very similar. These results are based on mean values of police force. The results showed that the mean values of burnout,
the sample inside each scale range. distress, and operational stress were moderate, but the cut-off
However, a more detailed analysis was performed considering points revealed that operational stress and its scales of work-
established levels and cut-off points for each questionnaire related issues and social-related issues presented high stress levels
(Table 8). For operational stress, the sample presented high for more than 75% of the sample (85, 89, and 76%, respectively).
stress for 89% on Work-related issues, 84.8% for Operational These results are in line with other studies, such as the
stress, and 76.2% for Social-related issues, while low stress was research by Lipp et al. (2017), who found that 52% of their
recorded at 2.5, 2.7, and 5.9%, respectively for each dimension, sample felt stressed, and the study by Brown and Cooper (1996),
suggesting that police officers are experiencing high stress levels who also found high stress levels. In the original study for the
and, as referred, not moderates stress according to the mean development of the PSQ-Op, McCreary and Thompson (2006)
values. Regarding burnout, 10.6% of the sample presented a very found that the mean values among Canadian police officers for
low level and 25.3% a low level for Enthusiasm, while 16.5% the 20 items varied between 2.66 and 4.40 and that operational

TABLE 6 | Relationship between PSQ-OP latent variables and distress and burnout symptoms (n = 2057).

Questionnaires’ scales Work-related issues Social-related issues Operational stress

Work-related issues 1.000

Social-related issues 0.803** 1.000
Operational stress 0.953** 0.946** 1.000
Enthusiasm −0.356** −0.373** −0.383**
Psychological exhaustion 0.587** 0.606** 0.628**
Indolence 0.546** 0.578** 0.591**
Guilt 0.131** 0.220** 0.183**
Burnout 0.550** 0.596** 0.602**
Anxiety 0.489** 0.549** 0.545**
Depression 0.497** 0.562** 0.556**
Distress 0.512** 0.577** 0.572**

**p < 0.010.

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

TABLE 7 | Descriptive statistics of operational stress, distress and burnout.

Scales (range) Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

Work-related issues (1–7) 1.00 7.00 4.648 1.496

Social-related issues 1.00 7.00 5.246 1.318
Operational stress 1.00 7.00 4.977 1.328
Enthusiasm (0–4) 0.00 4.00 1.928 0.980
Psychological exhaustion 0.00 4.00 2.379 1.067
Indolence 0.00 4.00 2.231 0.987
Guilt 0.00 4.00 0.858 0.715
Burnout 0.00 4.00 1.877 0.723
Anxiety (4–20) 4 20 9.784 3.938
Depression (6–30) 6 30 14.463 6.160
Distress (10–50) 10 50 24.246 9.743

TABLE 8 | Sample’s frequency (and percentage) distribution according established level (cut-off points).

Questionnaires’ scales Established levels with cut-off points

PSQ-Op Low stress (≤2) Moderate stress (2.1–3.4) High stress (≥3.5)

Work-related issues 51(2.5) 175(8.5) 1831(89.0)

Social-related issues 121(5.9) 368(17.9) 1567(76.2)
Operational stress 56(2.7) 257(12.5) 1744(84.8)

SBI Very low level (P ≤ 10%) Low (P11–33) Moderate (P34–66) High (P67–89) Critical level (P ≥ 90)

Enthusiasm 219(10.6) 520(25.3) 701(34.1) 420(20.4) 197(9.6)

Psychological exhaustion 298(14.5) 558(27.1) 643(31.3) 339(16.5) 219(10.6)
Indolence 213 (10.4) 572 (27.8) 624 (30.3) 449 (21.8) 199 (9.7)
Guilt 334 (16.2) 400 (19.4) 722 (35.1) 417 (20.3) 184 (8.9)
Burnout 231 (11.2) 479 (23.3) 676 (32.9) 450 (21.9) 221 (10.7)

K10 Low stress (10–15) Moderate stress (16–21) High stress (22–29) Very high stress (30–50) Risk of mental disorder (22–50)

Distress 436(21.2) 500(24.3) 545(26.5) 576(28) 1121(54.5)

stress had a mean value of 3.32, while the Portuguese sample the depression scale presented higher values than anxiety.
presented values between 4.02 and 5.57 with operational stress As stated by the European Agency for Safety and Health at
having a mean value of 4.98. Despite the difference between Work (EU-OSHA, 2018, 2019a,b), stress has become one of
the time of data collection and cultural differences between the most important psychosocial risks in the workplace, and
the countries, given that the maximum value in the range is it is crucial to develop measures to prevent it. Moreover,
7 points, the data suggest a higher level of stress among the anxiety and depression are increasing (OECD, 2019) and are
Portuguese than the Canadian police officers. Summerlin et al. related to distress and burnout, which increases the difficulty
(2010) found high stress levels among American police officers of identifying and distinguishing these psychological problems
for some operational tasks (e.g., 68% of the sample considered (Bianchi et al., 2015; Golonka et al., 2019; Koutsimani et al., 2019;
paperwork to be highly stressful and 73% considered handling Bianchi, 2020).
the public image to be so), but other tasks were considered as The sample also presented moderate values for burnout, with
highly stressful only for a few participants (e.g., 16% for activities Guilt having the lowest average, while Psychological Exhaustion
during days off), while the Portuguese sample considered all tasks and Indolence were higher. However, the analysis of cut-off
as either moderately or highly stressful. Bergman et al. (2016) points revealed that 11% of the sample presented critical values
reported mean values for operational stress among American for Burnout, while values between 9 and 11% were found for
police officers as 3.4, and 2.91 after a mindfulness intervention. other burnout dimensions. These values are less than those
Kaplan et al. (2017) reported mean values for operational stress found by McCarty et al. (2019) who found that 19% of a
(also among American police officers) as 3.47. All of these values sample of American police officers suffered with emotional
are smaller than the Portuguese sample in the current study. exhaustion and 13% with depersonalization. However, Gutshall
The sample presented moderate values for distress symptoms, et al. (2017) found moderate burnout levels for American
but 28% of the sample presented very high distress levels, with police officers, whereas Solana et al. (2013) found high levels
55% at risk of developing a psychological disorder. Additionally, of burnout for Spanish police officers. As studies have revealed

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

that burnout decreases self-protective behaviors and increases training, preparing police officers “to meet the contemporary
aggressive behaviors (Euwema et al., 2004; Queirós et al., 2013; challenges of police work,” and also to develop psychological
Ellrich, 2016), it seems important to assess burnout levels on skills, such as by including in the curricula stress prevention
a regular basis. and management programs, as well as topics such as the stress-
Finally, analysis of the correlation between operational stress, burnout relationship.
distress, and burnout found that higher scores for operational Psychological suffering among police officers can be expressed
stress, such as problems directly related to working conditions to others through disengagement or cynical behavior, or impact
and the impact of work on family and social life, were associated on the self in the form of depression, sometimes leading to
with higher scores for other scales of distress and burnout. suicide. In fact, suicide among police has become a serious
Furthermore, it seems that social-related issues interfere most problem and is commonly carried out with the service handgun
with burnout and distress compared to work-related issues. (Costa et al., 2019). Discussing the current study can help to
This may be due to the fact that currently a police officer increase awareness of psychological problems, especially those
is not so well respected by society, especially when they are that are chronic and may result in burnout, and also to reduce
from a national police force that works in urban centers, such burnout stigma and the stigma to seek help (Endriulaitiene
as the Portuguese police officers sampled in this study. This et al., 2019). The results highlight the importance of occupational
means that a large number of participants are away from health services in risk prevention and the recovery of workers
their families and friends, working in large urban cities such who play a crucial role in society, such as police officers who
as Lisbon or Oporto, and have difficulties receiving social deal with safety and security at a national level. Studies that
support from their relatives. This situation contributes to a seek to identify police officers’ stress and burnout levels must
difficult balance between work and family, and Portugal is be continued and will contribute to identifying the risk and
a country where professionals work more hours and have protective factors that influence a person’s well-being, quality of
more work-family conflicts according to the OECD Better Life life, job performance, and mental health, and also their families
Index 201910 . and the beneficiaries of police services (society and citizens).

Theoretical Implications
CONCLUSION This study highlights the need to continue research on burnout
and stress among police officers to develop our understanding
Burnout and stress among police officers has received increased
of specific police stressors, such as those evaluated by the
attention from the scientific community and society, due to
PSQ-Op. The literature review reinforces the importance
the psychological suffering they inflict on the individual, but
of developing psychological instruments focused on policing
also because of their impact on the performance of police
tasks, while the data of the sample allow us to verify the
officers and their interactions with citizens, leading to the
relationship between job stress, stress symptoms, and burnout,
increased possibility of all interactions being considered a
which present moderate to strong correlations, suggesting they
threat, or to a tendency to use excessive force. Thus, it is
are independent constructs. Furthermore, these results can
crucial to develop stress management interventions (Patterson
contribute to scientific research on police forces, a topic that
et al., 2014) and resilience interventions focused on policing
has received increased attention globally, with a particular
specificities, such as those developed by projects like BCOPS
focus on the causes of stress and burnout. Both the World
(Wirth et al., 2017), HEROES (Thornton et al., 2020), POWER
Health Organization and the European Agency for Safety
(Papazoglou and Blumberg, 2019), or POLICE (Trombka et al.,
and Health at Work have highlighted the need to prevent
2018). However, before implementing an intervention, we need
and manage job stress and to valorize mental health in
to identify burnout and stress levels, both in the early and
the workplace, as well as the need to view burnout as an
later stages of a career. This implies a regular assessment of
occupational phenomenon that must be considered among other
police officers and will be made easier if short and specific
psychosocial risks at work.
instruments are available and validated for policing stressors.
Moreover, occupational health has become a concern, along
with the need to identify critical situations early that might, Practical Implications
without intervention, lead to situations that are more dangerous. This study provides preliminary data for the Portuguese version
Training mental strength, resilience, or emotional intelligence of the Police Stress Questionnaire, which presents adequate
seems to be a possibility (Papazoglou and Andersen, 2014; psychometric properties. Being a short measure, it can be used
Meulen et al., 2017; Romosiou et al., 2018), as well as easily in the future to identify early police officers at risk of
reflecting the work values of police officers (Basinska and developing psychological problems, since occupational stress is
Daderman, 2019), since motivations for becoming a police related to burnout as an inadequate method of managing chronic
officer have changed in recent decades (Lester, 1983; White job stress. This study used data from a large sample of Portuguese
et al., 2010). Furthermore, according to Blumberg et al. (2019, police officers, representing 10% of the entire national force, and
p. 1), new directions should be taken in police academy the results can be used to identify stress and burnout levels before
implementing intervention programs. Additionally, the literature
10
https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=BLI. review can be used to identify scientific studies that have assessed

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Queirós et al. Police Officers’ Burnout and Stress

stress and burnout among police officers using questionnaires. DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
These kinds of studies can contribute to reducing the stigma of
seeking help when police officers confirm that a large number of The datasets generated for this study are available on request
colleagues are experiencing the same symptoms and difficulties. to the corresponding author, after National Portuguese
Police authorization.
Limitations
In the literature review, the search was focused on studies ETHICS STATEMENT
using questionnaires. This does not reflect all studies of
police stress and burnout, which have increased enormously This study was carried out in accordance with the
in the last decade. Moreover, the review did not consider recommendations of the Ethics guidelines of the FPCEUP Ethics
post-traumatic stress, which can occur among professionals Committee, having online informed consent from all participants
such as police officers who work in dangerous situations and in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The study was
frequently face critical incidents that can be potentially traumatic. approved by the Portuguese National Police.
Regarding data collection, the sample came from only one of
the Portuguese police forces (called Polícia de Segurança Pública,
a civil force). Despite the data being a national sample, no AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
data were collected from police officers working in rural areas
(from a militarized force called Guarda Nacional Republicana), CQ, FP, AP, and CS designed the study. CQ and FP developed
or from a judicial/criminal force (called Polícia Judicária), the theoretical framework. CQ and AM performed the literature
which together comprise the three major Portuguese police review. AB, AP, and CQ performed the statistical analyses. All
forces. Furthermore, data analysis focused on the psychometric authors participated in results’ discussion and final version of the
properties of the PSQ-Op and on stress/burnout identification manuscript. All authors of this research manuscript have directly
levels. The analyses did not compare individual and professional participated in the planning, execution, and analysis of this study.
characteristics such as age, gender, or career position. It is worth
noting that the meta-analysis of Aguayo et al. (2017) found
that sociodemographic factors can be associated with police FUNDING
officers’ burnout.
This work was funded by the Center for Psychology at the
University of Porto, Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT
Future Research UID/PSI/00050/2013) and EU FEDER through COMPETE 2020
It will be important in future research to include samples program (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007294).
from other Portuguese police forces to verify the invariance
of PSQ-Op structure and validity. It will also be necessary to
analyze the organizational stressors, which form the second ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
part of the Police Stress Questionnaire. Moreover, the impact
of individual and professional characteristics on stress and We wish to reinforce there are several acknowledgements
burnout must be considered, since the literature frequently Directorate of Portuguese National Police who approved and
suggests that different genders deal differently with emotions disseminated the study; all police officers of the PSP (from the
and stressors, with women feeling more emotional exhaustion, first professional positions through to the high commanders) who
whereas men feel more disengagement, depersonalization, or generously spent their time participating in and disseminating
indolence, and react differently to shift work (Violanti et al., the study, allowing us to collect data from a national sample;
2018). Additionally, other psychological variables such as coping Professor Pedro Gil-Monte and TEA Ediciones, Spain, who
and resilience must be included, since they can affect stress authorized the use of SBI Portuguese version; and Sara Faria and
responses and the process of stress and burnout development Sílvia Monteiro Fonseca, who helped with the literature search,
(Allison et al., 2019). its organization, and preliminary analysis.

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Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 23 May 2020 | Volume 11 | Article 587