Assessing the Relative Impact of Diverse Stressors among Canadian Coast Guard and Conservation and Protection Officers

Katie L. Andrews (), Laleh Jamshidi, Jolan Nisbet, Taylor A. Teckchandani, Jill A. B. Price, Rosemary Ricciardelli, Gregory S. Anderson and R. Nicholas Carleton
Additional contact information
Katie L. Andrews: Canadian Institute of Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT), University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada
Laleh Jamshidi: Canadian Institute of Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT), University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada
Jolan Nisbet: Canadian Institute of Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT), University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada
Taylor A. Teckchandani: Canadian Institute of Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT), University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada
Jill A. B. Price: Canadian Institute of Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT), University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada
Rosemary Ricciardelli: Fisheries and Marine Institute, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1C 5R3, Canada
Gregory S. Anderson: Faculty of Science, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC V2C 0C8, Canada
R. Nicholas Carleton: Canadian Institute of Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT), University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-20

Abstract: Public Safety Personnel (PSP), including members of the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and Conservation and Protection (C&P) officers, are regularly exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs) and other occupational stressors (organizational and operational stressors). The current study quantified occupational stressors among CCG and C&P and assessed relationships with PPTEs and mental health disorders. Participants ( n = 341; 58.4% male) completed an online survey assessing self-reported occupational stressors, PPTEs, and mental health disorder symptoms. CCG and C&P Officers reported significantly lower mean overall and item-level organizational and operational stress scores compared to other Canadian PSP. Mean operational stress scores were statistically significantly associated with increased odds of screening positive for all mental disorders and organizational stress scores were statistically significantly associated with increased odds of screening positive for all mental disorders except social anxiety disorder. Participants reported several item-level occupational stressors associated with screening positive for posttraumatic stress disorder, general anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and alcohol use disorder, even after accounting for diverse PPTE exposures. Exposure to PPTEs may be a regular part of employment for CCG and C&P PSP; however, bureaucratic red tape, staff shortages, excessive administrative duties, physical conditioning, healthy eating, and fatigue are occupational stressors that appear significantly related to mental health. Ongoing mental health efforts are needed to mitigate and manage the impact of occupational stressors among CCG and C&P.

Keywords: occupational stressors; public safety personnel (PSP); potentially psychologically traumatic event (PPTE); post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16396/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/24/16396/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:24:p:16396-:d:996009

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().