Incidence of suicide among military police officers in South Brazil: An 11-year retrospective cohort study

Strategies for Coping with Occupational Trauma: A Scoping Review of the Police Officer Context

BACKGROUND

Occupational trauma is heightened among police officers due to their exposure to physical, biological, chemical, and psychological hazards. Sustained occupational trauma results in mental illness among members of the police, which is a public health issue of concern. This study aimed to report a scoping review of the literature on strategies employed by police officers for coping with occupational trauma around the globe.

METHODS

A search string, formulated from the review question of what is known about the strategies of police officers for coping with occupational trauma, was used to search for articles from databases. A total of 588 hits were screened against inclusion criteria, resulting in 36 full-text studies between 1983 and 2022 being included in this review. Data were extracted using a standardised data extraction tool. The multi-step process was used to analyse the extracted data, integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches.

RESULTS

From this review, 'adaptive coping mechanisms', involving confrontation; 'maladaptive coping mechanisms', such as self-isolation, distancing and substance use; 'resilience', relating to mental preparation, and 'seeking support systems' from family, colleagues and professionals reflected the strategies used by police officers to cope with occupational trauma. Social stigma related to mental health disorders impacts the strategies used by police officers to cope with occupational trauma.

CONCLUSIONS

the police management and healthcare practitioners must collaborate towards providing constructive environments that support and strengthen police officers' strategies for coping with occupational trauma.

Suicides in Brazilian Federal Highway Police: A retrospective study with 20-years' data (2001-2020)

BACKGROUND

To assess the incidence of suicides among Brazilian Federal Highway Police Officers (FHPO) between 2001 and 2020, as well as to describe their sociodemographic and occupational profile.

METHODS

A retrospective study analyzed all suicides among FHPO of all Brazilian states between 2001 and 2020 based on personalized police record files.

RESULTS

The average suicide rate was 18.7/100,000 persons per year. A total of 35 suicides were identified, of which 33 (91.4%) were by firearm. Most FHPO who died by suicide were male (94.3%), under the age of 40 (62.9%), working for 10 or more years (57.1%), married (65.7%), parents (68.6%), had health insurance (77.1%), and worked in alternating shifts (54.2%).

CONCLUSION

The suicide rate among FHPO is high. Due to missing data on age and gender, standardized rates were not reported in the current study, therefore a careful interpretation of the rates reported should be considered.

Understanding public reactions to state security officials' suicide cases in online news comments

Little is known about public reactions to state security officials' suicide in Muslim countries like Pakistan. To explore readers' reactions in online comments, we analyzed 1,765 comments related to 10 news stories about suicide published in five mainstream English newspapers. The findings revealed six themes: stress, depression, and mental health issues; controversial investigation reports and misinformation; need for stronger accountability to address corruption in the country; criticizing media and security institutions; sympathy for the deceased and their families; and suicide and Islam. We recommend that suicide prevention organizations should monitor audience comments to devise and suggest resources for the public.

Aspectos de saúde mental investigados em policiais: uma revisão integrativa

Resumo Esta revisão integrativa teve por objetivo identificar quais aspectos de saúde mental dos policiais têm sido mais investigados na literatura, considerando o período de 2012 a 2018. Foram realizadas buscas nas bases de dados PubMed, LILACS, SciELO e PePSIC. Foram analisados 84 artigos, quanto a 4 categorias: características dos estudos; saúde mental dos policiais; fatores de risco para problemas mentais; e fatores protetivos e para desenvolvimento da saúde. A análise dos artigos mostrou que Estados Unidos e Brasil produziram mais sobre o tema e que depressão, estresse e transtornos de ansiedade foram as patologias mais frequentes nos artigos analisados. Fatores individuais e do trabalho associaram-se ao adoecimento e fatores protetivos e intervenções foram pouco investigados. Estudos futuros poderão abordar essas lacunas.

Identification of socio-demographic, occupational, and societal factors for guiding suicide prevention: A cohort study of Swiss male workers (2000-2014)

INTRODUCTION

We modeled suicidal rate among Swiss working-age males, considering three groups of factors at socio-demographic, occupational, and societal levels jointly. Our goal was twofold: to verify the effect of occupation after adjustment for non-occupational factors and to identify protective and risk factors relevant for suicide prevention in working male adults.

METHODS

The study population included all men aged [18-65] years at the 2000 population census and followed up within the Swiss National Cohort (SNC). The risk of suicide was modeled using Poisson regression.

RESULTS

The cohort comprised 1,534,564 men and 4371 deaths by suicide. Suicide rate varied significantly according to age, civil status, nationality, highest education achieved, and socio-professional category at socio-demographic level; occupation, occupational activity branch, weekly working hours, and home-to-work commute time at occupational level; calendar period of death, region, religious affiliation, and volunteering activity at societal level. After adjustment for non-occupational factors, agricultural and fishery laborers, military and civil security workers, and health and social workers were identified as high-risk groups with respect to suicide.

CONCLUSION

This study evidenced a complex web of factors at socio-demographic, occupational, and societal levels behind the suicide in Swiss male workers and identified the most at-risk groups, deserving targeted prevention efforts.