A Study on the Prevalence of Occupational Stress Among Police Personnel in Delhi.

Introduction Occupational stress or stress at work is a real challenge for workers as well as organisations. Work-related stress can be caused by poor work organisation, poor work design, poor management, unsatisfactory working conditions, and lack of support from colleagues and supervisors. Police personnel work in such conditions that make them vulnerable to adverse physiological and psychological outcomes; however, this often goes underreported, underdiagnosed, and undertreated. The current study focused on two types of occupational stress, namely operational stress and organisational stress. Operational stress is due to the nature of the job, whereas organisational stress is due to the organisational culture in which a person works in.  Aims and objectives The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of occupational stress and associated factors among police personnel in Delhi. Methodology This cross-sectional study was conducted among 374 police personnel in a selected district in Delhi. The district was selected randomly via the chit method, and in the second stage, a non-proportional stratified random sampling technique was used, and two strata were constituted of 187 participants in each stratum. The first stratum included inspectors, sub-inspectors (SI), and assistant sub-inspectors (ASI), and the second stratum included constables and head-constables. For the assessment of occupational stress, the Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) was used. Results The prevalence of stress (moderate to high) was found to be 91.5% and 54.2% for operational and organizational stress. Females (17.6% of the study participants) were found to be more stressed. Not having enough time available to spend with friends and family, and staff shortages were found to be the most stressful operational and organisational stressors, respectively.  Conclusion The study revealed a high prevalence of occupational stress among police personnel, highlighting the urgent need for intervention and proactive measures by relevant authorities.