Self-Reported Coping Strategies for Managing Work-Related Stress among Public Safety Personnel

Gregory S. Anderson, Rosemary Ricciardelli, Linna Tam-Seto, Sulaimon Giwa and R. Nicholas Carleton
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Gregory S. Anderson: Faculty of Science, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC V2C 0C8, Canada
Rosemary Ricciardelli: Department of Sociology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Saint John’s, NL A1C 5S7, Canada
Linna Tam-Seto: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L6, Canada
Sulaimon Giwa: School of Social Work, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Saint John’s, NL A1C 5S7, Canada
R. Nicholas Carleton: Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Public safety personnel (PSP) experience a disproportionately high number of on-the-job stressors compared to the general population. PSP develop self-initiated actions, or coping strategies, that either confront the situation (approach strategies) or avoid the situation (avoidance strategies) to reduce the impact of stressors on their well-being. Understanding how PSP cope with stress is critical to ensuring their safety and that of the public. In the current study, we examined the coping strategies of PSP ( n = 828 in the total sample). Participants managed their experiences of occupational stress or distress using three primary approach coping strategies: education (learning about mental illness and their causes), self-reliance (processes of self-reflection), and treatment (pharmaceutical, psychotherapy) that were considered adaptive. Results demonstrate PSP used multiple coping strategies simultaneously to deal with occupational stress. PSP who reported doing better tended to attribute their success to treatment, specifically psychotherapy, either alone or in combination with other interventions, and almost always emphasizing important supports from co-workers, families, and friends. Changing workplace culture could help to de-pathologize the effects of stress reactions being perceived as individual “failings”.

Keywords: coping; public safety personnel; stress; mental health; injury (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)

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