Working in certain professions is known to have lasting health impacts that effect people in and beyond their working lives. This research highlights the range of occupational health impacts faced by policing practitioners and the organisational, cultural, and systemic barriers they face in seeking and receiving timely and appropriate health care.
We sought to answer the following research questions:
To answer these questions we undertook a systematic literature review to explore the evidence concerning occupational morbidities (illnesses) in policing, and qualitative research using semi-structured interviews with police officers and staff to understand their experiences of occupational ill health and accessing and engaging primary care support, and General Practitioners (GPs) to understand their understanding of the of the occupational morbidities associated with policing and their experiences of engaging police personnel.
Read the full systematic literature review (PDF)
In the first report, we highlight that the majority of the evidence from the literature comes from outside the UK, with the majority being derived from US studies. We also saw that:
However, the weight of evidence from the studies reveals a compelling narrative describing the higher risk police personnel face from a range of physiological (physical diseases) and psychological morbidities (psychological diseases). These arise from the occupational and organisational conditions they are exposed to throughout their service in policing, and have consequences for their health, wellbeing, capacity, and capability in service and beyond.
Collectively these conditions represent additional morbidity burdens above those carried by the general population, revealing the health cost incurred by those in service and beyond.
Read the full qualitative report (PDF)
The second report reveals that within policing organisations, psycho-social, structural, organisational, and cultural factors combine with challenges to accessing primary care in a timely and effective manner to potentially delay help-seeking, diagnosis, and treatment, particularly for mental health conditions.
At the same time, within the primary care sector, understanding of policing as a distinct patient cohort is limited, and structural, organisational, and cultural factors combine to create additional barriers to effective and timely diagnosis and treatment.
Taken together, the two reports highlight gaps and opportunities in the evidence base, the additional health burdens accrued by those who choose to work in policing, and the challenges they face in seeking and obtaining support and treatment. In doing so, they also highlight areas that might usefully be explored to reduce the risks police personnel face by choosing to work within policing. These reports will be of particular interest to academic, policy, strategic and operational leaders and practitioners.
Postdoctoral Researcher