J Police Crim Psych (2016) 31:229–237
DOI 10.1007/s11896-015-9189-y
Burnout, Coping, Stress of Conscience and Psychosocial Work
Environment among Patrolling Police Officers
Mojgan Padyab 1 & Susann Backteman-Erlanson 2 & Christine Brulin 2
Published online: 13 January 2016
# Society for Police and Criminal Psychology 2016
Abstract Police personnel work under different circum-
stances in various environments involving stressful situations
which can increase the risk of burnout. Aim of this study was
to investigate the association between burnout (emotional ex-
haustion, EE vs. depersonalization, DP) and psychosocial
work environment, stress of conscience as well as coping
strategies among patrolling police officers in Sweden. Most
of the independent variables; psychological demand, decision
latitude, social support, and coping scales were correlated with
EE and DP. A hierarchical multiple regression was performed
to investigate the predictive impact of; psychological demand,
decision latitude, social support, coping strategies and stress
of conscience. Findings revealed that risk of EE increased
with a troubled conscience for both women and men when
coping strategies were added to the model. For men risk of DP
increased with troubled conscience. Only low decision lati-
tude was associated with risk of DP for women when coping
strategies were added to the model. Results from this study
indicate that stress of conscience has to be taken into consid-
eration and also levels of social support and decision latitude
when studying the influence of the psychosocial work envi-
ronment on burnout.
Keywords Swedish police . Emotional exhaustion .
Depersonalization . Stress of conscience . Social support .
Coping
* Susann Backteman-Erlanson
susann.backteman@nurs.umu.se
1
Department of Social Work, Umea University, Umea, Sweden
2
Department of Nursing, Umea University, 901 85 Umea, Sweden
Introduction
Police personnel work under different circumstances in a va-
riety of environments, involving stressful situations which can
increase the risk of burnout (Hawkins 2001; Kurtz 2008; Taris
et al. 2010; Thompson et al. 2005). In a recent study we have
found that the police profession is recognized as being an
occupation involving challenging and unpredictable encoun-
ters (Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2011), and a further identify-
ing factor is organizational stress (Liberman et al. 2002;
Thompson et al. 2006). In general, work-related stress has
an impact on health and wellbeing (Paoli and Merllie 2001).
Specific kinds of police occupations work-related stress can
include; gruesome crime scenes, car accidents with exposure
to critical incidents with injuries and death (He et al. 2002;
Liberman et al. 2002). Anshel (2000) describes that acute
stress is inherited within the occupation. Findings from a
meta-analytic review showed that a combination of high de-
mand and low control over one’s work is associated with a
moderate risk of common mental disorders (Stansfeld and
Candy 2006).
In an interview study we found that male patrolling police
officers (PPOs) sometimes experienced traumatic situations
very hard and these situations remained as a burden
(Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2011). The study also showed that
no systematic coping strategies had been initiated by the po-
lice organization, indicating that PPOs themselves have to
come through such traumatic situations on their own.
Findings from a study concerning problems and attitudes in
local police authorities revealed important reflections about
ethical dilemmas. In the interviews with PPOs feelings of
severe stressful situations were expressed (Westin &
Nilsson, 2009). In another study, based on self-rated experi-
ences of work, we found that troubled conscience was a com-
mon phenomenon associated with emotional exhaustion and
230
depersonalization (Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2012). This
shed light on the fact that traumatic situations stayed like a
burden for PPOs (Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2011). We also
found a high prevalence of and mean values for emotional
exhaustion (EE) and depersonalization (DP) (burnout accord-
ing to the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) among female
and male PPOs, and an association between these kinds of ill-
health and stress of conscience (Backteman-Erlanson et al.
2012). Variations from low scores to high scores when mea-
suring burnout with MBI have been presented from different
countries among police officers (Hawkins 2001; Storm and
Rothmann 2003; Taris et al., 2005). It is also worth noting that
PPOs in Sweden show a higher prevalence of as well as mean
values for EE and DP (Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2012) com-
pared with police personnel samples from Norway
(Martinussen et al. 2007), the Netherlands (Kop and
Euwema 2001) and South Africa (Storm and Rothmann
2003). Prevalence of burnout for the general population of
Sweden varies from 17 % to 23 % among women and from
5 % to 12 % among men (Lindert et al. 2009; Magnusson
Hanson et al. 2008; Norlund 2011). In our Swedish study of
female PPOs, 30 % were reported as experiencing high levels
of EE versus 26 % of male PPOs. The corresponding figures
for DP were 52 % for female PPOs versus 60 % for male PPOs
(Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2012).
In order to decrease the risk of becoming emotionally
exhausted and depersonalized, it is important to manage
stressful situations by using effective coping strategies. Risk
of experiencing burnout can be prevented and mediated with
various coping strategies, generally (Shin et al. 2014) as well
as in police occupations work environment (Anshel 2000).
According to Lazarus and Folkman (1984), coping involves
both cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage taxing exter-
nal or internal demands. Coping has two major functions:
regulating stressful emotions (emotion-focused coping), or
changing the troubled person- environment relation causing
the distress (problem-focused). Depending on the situation
these functions can be carried out separately or in combina-
tion. The results from a meta-analytic review showed that
problem-focused coping was positively correlated with over-
all health outcomes, while emotion-focused coping was neg-
atively correlated with the same (Penley et al. 2002). The
association of different coping strategies with health outcome
has been the focus of studies from police sample (Anshel
2000; Patterson 2003). Patterson (2003) found in his study
of police officers support for the argument for employing a
variety of coping strategies in response to different work ex-
periences. In addition, according to Folkman and Lazarus,
also social support is of importance and can serve as both
problem-focused and emotion-focused coping at the same
time (Monat and Lazarus 1991). Prati and Pietrantoni (2010)
described that socially supportive environment could improve
resilience from traumatic situations. Dollard and co-workers
J Police Crim Psych (2016) 31:229–237
(2003) state that social support is a crucial resource for human
service workers when coping with stressors in their
occupation.
Previously in this project, we found risk of having emo-
tional exhaustion and depersonalization, in respect to psycho-
social work environment as well as stress of conscience
among Swedish female and male patrolling police officers
(Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2012). It is important to investi-
gate coping strategies as a moderator variable to further inves-
tigate their association with burnout.
The aim of this study was to investigate the association
between burnout (emotional exhaustion vs. depersonaliza-
tion), psychosocial work environment and troubled con-
science when controlling for coping strategies among patrol-
ling police officers in Sweden.
Methods
Study Sample and Design
An exploratory cross- sectional survey was used in this study,
and 1554 patrolling police officers (PPOs),- 778 female and
776 male randomly selected and stratified by gender were
asked to participate. After three reminders the response rate
was 55 % (856), of which 437 (56 %) were female and 419
(53 %) male.
Contact was established with Department of Human
Resources of the Swedish National Police Board, Stockholm
and permission for collecting data was obtained. The ques-
tionnaire, the information and a prepaid envelope were after
that sent to each of the human relations coordinators (HR)
throughout the 21 regional police departments in Sweden
and forwarded to the participants invited. Ethical approval
for the study was given by the Regional Ethical Review
Board in Umeå, Umeå University (Dnr 08–186).
This study was part of a larger project called Nordic Safety
and Security (NSS) (Ref. no: 41 952), carried out during
2009–2011. The project was financed by the European
Union and concerned the work environment of emergency
personnel.
Data Collection
Data was collected using a questionnaire included burnout
(emotional exhaustion, depersonalization) as well as demog-
raphy, psychosocial work environment, troubled conscience,
and coping strategies. Each of these areas will be presented
below.
Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was used for measuring
burn out such as e mo tion al exhau stion (EE) and
depersonalization (DP). A Swedish version of MBI was used
for this purpose (Maslach et al. 1996, 1981) which was
J Police Crim Psych (2016) 31:229–237
translated and validated by Hallsten (1985). The MBI consist
of three subscales: emotional exhaustion (EE) nine items
(sample item: BI feel emotionally drained from my work),
depersonalization (DP) five items (sample item: BI worry that
this job is hardening me emotionally^), personal
accomplishment (PA) eight items. In this study we used EE
and DP due to recommendations from Maslach (2001) and
Bakker et al. (2004). All subscales were scored on a Likert-scale
ranging from Bnever^ (1) to Bevery day^ (7). A total score was
used for each subscale giving an EE score ranging from 9 to
63, and a DP score ranging from 5 to 35. The MBI instrument
has been tested for validity and reliability, and Cronbach’s
alpha (α) were 0.90 for EE, 0.79 for DP and 0.71 for PA
(Maslach et al. 1996). In an earlier study performed in a
Swedish police context, Cronbach’s α were 0.85 for EE; and
0.74 for DP (Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2012).
Karasek and Theorells questionnaire Job Demand-
Control-Social Support Model (JDCS) was used to measure
psychological demand (sample item: Bwhether demands were
in conflict with each other) (five items), and decision latitude
(control) (sample item: Bcreativity and learning new things)
(six items), and social support (sample item Bsupport of co-
workers^) (six items) (Johnson and Hall 1988; Karasek and
Theorell 1990). The items regarding demand and control were
answered on a scale from 1, corresponding to Boften^, to 4,
corresponding to Bnever^. The scores were reversed in nega-
tively worded items. High scores given for decision latitude
indicated low decision latitude (low control). Responses re-
garding social support were based on the same numerical
scoring but ranged from Bagree completely^ to Bdo not agree
at all^. A mean score of all the items on each subscale was
calculated. JCDS is commonly used by researchers in occu-
pational health (Lindeberg et al., 2010; Staland-Nyman et al.
2008). It was used and tested for validity and reliability among
police personnel, and showed that Cronbach’s α were 0.74 for
job demand and 0.79 for job control (Taris et al. 2010).
Corresponding figures for Cronbach’s α from an earlier study
performed in a Swedish police context were 0.78 for demand,
0.53 for control and 0.83 for social support (Backteman-
Erlanson et al. 2012).
The Stress of Conscience Questionnaire (SCQ) was used to
estimate stress related to troubled conscience. The SCQ-
instrument consists of 9 items, divided in two parts; A and
B. The A part evaluates how frequently a certain common
stressful situation and conscience- related situation arises in
the workplace, assessed on a 6-point Likert scale where 1
response to Bnever^, and 6 to Bevery day^ (sample item:
BHow frequently does it happen that you are forced to do
things that feels wrong to do^. The purpose of Part B was to
measure the extent to which these stress factors led to troubled
conscience measured on a scale from 1 to 10. After multiply-
ing the items in the A and B-part a total index is provided. A
total score of all the items on the subscale were calculated
231
where higher values indicating stressful situations more fre-
quently recorded with a higher stress of conscience. The SCQ-
instrument is validated for Swedish conditions (Glasberg et al.
2006; Åhlin et al. 2012), showed a satisfactory level of inter-
nal consistency where Cronbach α was 0.83 (Glasberg et al.
2006) and Cronbach α 0.82 (Juthberg et al. 2008). In an earlier
study performed within a Swedish police context Cronbach α
was 0.76 (Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2012).
The Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WOCQ) was used to
assess coping strategies. The instrument consisted of 66 items
that describe a broad range of thoughts and behaviours people
use to manage stressful encounters. The WOCQ is constructed
and revised by Folkman and Lazarus (1988) based on their
transactional model of stress and emotion (TMSE); (Lazarus
and Folkman 1984). The WOCQ has become globally used in
different countries and in different contexts (Kieffer and
MacDonald 2011; Munet-Vilaroa et al. 2002; Ghazinour
et al. 2010; Padyab et al. 2012). In this study a six-factor
solution with 40 items was used according to results from
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor
analysis (EFA) showing reasonable fit indices as follows;
RMSEA = 0.0606, CFI = 0.939 and GFI = 0.886. Fit indices
out of the original eight factor solution in that study was as
follows; RMSEA = 0.0734, CFI = 0.878 and GFI = 0.815
which was not considered as reasonable fit indices and there-
fore not used (Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2015). Participants
were asked to think about how to manage a specific situation
given in a written format as follows: BLast week I was the first
person to arrive at the scene of a car accident. One child was
bleeding a lot from the intestines^. The coping strategies were
estimated on a 4- point Likert scale (0 = does not apply and /or
not used; 1 = used to some extent; 2 = used quite a bit; 3 = used
a great deal). The scores for each coping scale were calculated
in accordance with the manual for the WOCQ (Folkman and
Lazarus 1988). To get total score on the coping scale raw
scores were calculated by adding the score for each item on
the scale. High scores indicated that the individual often used
the behavior described by that scale in coping with the stress-
ful event (Folkman and Lazarus 1988). The six factor-solution
consisted of the following subscales: Psychological
Distancing (sample item: BAvoided being with people in
general^ (PDi, 17 items); Planful Problem Solving (sample item:
BI went over in my mind what I would say or do^) (PPs, 9
items); Confrontive Coping (sample item: BStood my ground
and fought for what I wanted^) (CCo, 3 items); Self
Controlling (sample item: BI told myself things that helped
me to feel better^), (SCo 3 items); Wishful Thinking (sample
item: BHoped a miracle would happen^), (WTh, 4 items) and
Positive Reappraisal (sample item: BI changed something
about myself^) (PoRe, 4 items). The commonly used thres-
hold for acceptable reliability is 0.7 (Nunnally and Bernstein
1994; Tabachnick and Fidell 2007) our results showed good
construct reliability values for PDi = 0.89, PPs = 0.79,
232 J Police Crim Psych (2016) 31:229–237

CCo = 0 .72 , WTh = 0.7 4, SCo = 0 .63, PoRe = 0. 75 Table 1 Descriptive statistics, burnout dimensions, psychosocial work
characteristics, stress of conscience and ways of coping among female
(Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2015). Fit indices were all accept-
(n = 437) and male (n = 419) police personnel
able assuming that the six-factor solution was reliable, and
therefore the suggested factor structure was used in this study. Women Men p-value

Mean Sd Mean Sd
Statistical Analysis
Age (years) 34 7 40 11 <0.001
In this study descriptive statistics are presented as means and Burnout dimensions
standard deviations for various demographic characteristics, Emotional exhaustion 24.37 7.67 23.88 8.65 0.39
EE and DP, stress of conscience and demand/decision/social Depersonalization 12.66 5.19 14.14 5.92 <0.001
support (Table 1). Pearson correlation coefficients were ap- Psychosocial work characteristics
plied to assess the correlations between MBI scales and, psy- Demand 2.69 0.43 2.66 0.47 0.08
chosocial work environment, psychological demand, decision Decision 1.89 0.38 1.89 0.36 0.33
latitude, social support, coping strategies and stress of con- Social support 1.73 0.49 1.72 0.45 0.19
science (Table 2). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis Stress of conscience 147.05 64.68 125.13 66.76 <0.001
was conducted to evaluate the predictive impact of psycho- Ways of coping
logical demand, decision latitude, social support, coping strat- Psychological Distancing 11.81 6.44 10.97 6.46 0.058
egies and stress of conscience on EE and DP. Correlation Planful Problem solving 16.51 3.98 15.43 4.06 <0.001
coefficients above 0.7 among independent variables and Confrontive Coping 6.47 1.63 5.63 1.72 <0.001
Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) not exceeding 10 were used Wishful Thinking 5.20 3.08 3.92 2.67 <0.001
to ensure the absence of multicollinearity (Pallant 2007). P- Self Control 6.11 1.58 5.84 1.42 <0.01
values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Positive Reappraisal 6.45 2.25 5.72 2.27 <0.001
Assumptions for the linear regression model were assessed
using residual analysis. The distribution of the residual satis-
fied the normality assumptions and therefore assumptions for
planful problem solving and less self control is related to
the regression models were met. All statistical analyses were
higher EE.
performed using SPSS, version 20.0.
The result from Table 2 shows significant correlations be-
tween DP and work characteristics. Among coping behaviors
‘psychological distancing ‘were correlated with DP. For wom-
Results en ‘self-control’ showed negative significant correlation
which could be interpreted as using less ‘self- control’ is re-
The characteristics of the study population and coping behav- lated to higher DP. For all independent variables, ‘stress of
iors, burnout and psychosocial work variables are presented in conscience’ showed highest correlation with DP (r = 0.27;
Table 1. Men were in general older than women (40 vs.34; p < 0.001) as it did with EE (r = 0.50; p < 0.001).
p < 0.001). Scores for mean values for EE reported no signif- In a hierarchical multiple regression with EE as a depen-
icant difference between women and men (23.8 vs. 24.3), dent variable and work characteristics (demand, decision, so-
whereas corresponding scores for DP reported a significant cial support) as independent variables in the first block, the
difference between women and men (12.6 vs. 14.1; coping factors in the second block, and with stress of con-
p < 0.001), indicating that men might be more depersonalized. science in the third block, 40 % of the variance of EE could
Women scored higher on all coping behaviors (except for PDI be explained by demand, decision and stress of conscience
which was marginally significant) than men and women also (Table 3) among men. Only ‘confrontive coping’ contributed
scored significant higher on stress of conscience (147.05 vs. negatively to predict EE among men which was interpreted as
125.13; p < 0.001) (Table 1). No significant difference was using less ‘confrontive coping’ is related to higher EE.
found between women and men with regard to psychosocial However, in the absence of stress of conscience (see
work characteristics (demand, decision and social support). Table 3, Model 2), ‘psychological distancing’ and ‘wishful
Table 2 shows significant correlations between EE and thinking’ were significant predictors for EE but with lower
work characteristics (demand, decision and social support). adjusted R2 compared with Model 3.
‘Psychological distancing’ and ‘wishful thinking’ were corre- The results for EE among women were similar to those for
lated with EE, and the highest correlation was found between men but social support and demand rather than decision lati-
EE and ‘stress of conscience’ (r = 0.50; p < 0.001). For women tude contributed in the model (Table 4).
‘Planful problem solving’ and ‘Self control’ showed negative Considering DP as the dependent variable, the varia-
significant correlation which could be interpreted as using less tion in stress of conscience, combined with the ways of
J Police Crim Psych (2016) 31:229–237 233

Table 2 Bivariate correlations

for burnout, psychosocial work MBI, Emotional Exhaustion MBI, De-personalization
characteristics, coping scales as
well as stress of conscience All cases Women Men All cases Women Men
among female (n = 437) and male
(n = 419) police personnel Stress of conscience 0.51** 0.47** 0.54** 0.27** 0.22** 0.37**
Demand 0.38** 0.35** 0.41** 0.18** 0.16** 0.20**
Decision 0.21** 0.17** 0.26** 0.14** 0.16** 0.13**
Social support 0.30** 0.27** 0.33** 0.15** 0.17** 0.14**
PDi 0.21** 0.21** 0.21** 0.14** 0.155** 0.14**
PPs −0.05 −0.12* 0.01 −0.07 −0.01 −0.01
CCo −0.07 −0.08 −0.08 −0.08 −0.08 −0.02
WTh 0.16** 0.10* 0.22** −0.02 −0.02 0.03
SC −0.06 −0.10* −0.03 −0.07* −0.11* −0.01
PRe 0.00 −0.02 0.01 −0.01** −0.08 −0.08

PD = Psychological distancing, PPs = Planful problem solving, CC = Confrontive coping, WTh = Wishful think-
ing, SC = Self control, PRe = Positive reappraisal
*p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01

coping ‘Psychological distancing’, ‘wishful thinking’ Discussion

and ‘ positive reappraisal’, accounted for about 19 %
of the variance of DP among men with each variable
significant contributing to this amount (Table 5).
However ‘wishful thinking’ and ‘positive reappraisal’
contributed negatively which was interpreted as using
less of these two coping factors is related to higher
DP (Table 5).
None of the ways of coping contributed to explain the
variation of DP among women and the only significant pre-
dictor were decision latitude (control) which accounted for
9 % of the variance in DP (Table 6).
The results from this study showed that stress of conscience
had the most predictive impact on EE and DP when all the
independent variables including coping strategies were taken
into account. That means when adjusting for coping, stress of
conscience was a significant predictor of burnout indicated by
high EE and DP. Our results can be compared with studies
among health-care personnel reporting relationships between
stress of conscience and dimensions of burnout (EE and DP)
(Glasberg et al. 2007, 2008; Juthberg et al. 2008). The find-
ings from our study are congruent with previously performed

Table 3 Hierarchical multiple

regression analysis to predict Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Emotional Exhaustion among
men b Standardized β B Standardized β b Standardized β

Demand 6.57 0.35** 6.64 0.36*** 4.15 0.22***

Decision a 4.45 0.19** 3.94 0.17* 2.97 0.13*
Soc.sup b 3.22 0.17** 2.70 0.14* 2.01 0.10
PD 0.20 0.15* 0.12 0.09
PPS 0.17 0.08 0.18 0.08
CC −0.62 −0.12 −0.67 −0.14*
WTh 0.49 0.15* 0.17 0.05
SC 0.35 0.06 0.56 0.09
PRe −0.29 −0.08 −0.36 −0.09
Stress of Conscience 0.05 0.41**
R2adjusted 0.22 0.28 0.40

Soc Supp = Social support, PD = Psychological distancing, PPs = Planful problem solving, CC = Confrontive
coping, WTh = Wishful thinking, SC = Self control, PRe = Positive reappraisal
a b
high scores for decision indicates low decision latitude, high score on social support indicates low social
support,
*p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001
234 J Police Crim Psych (2016) 31:229–237

Table 4 Hierarchical multiple

regression analysis to predict Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Emotional Exhaustion among
women b Standardized β B Standardized β B Standardized β

Demand 5.63 0.30* 5.56 0.30** 3.378 0.18**

Decision a 2.52 0.11* 2.32 0.10 2.070 0.09
Soc Supp b 3.52 0.20*** 2.51 0.14* 1.970 0.11*
PD 0.23 0.19** 0.104 0.09
PPS −0.20 −0.10* −0.143 −0.07
CC 0.23 0.05 0.293 0.06
WTh 0.15 0.06 0.089 0.03
SC −0.44 −0.10 −0.427 −0.09
PRe 0.20 0.06 −0.040 −0.01
Stress of Conscience 0.044 0.36**
R2adjusted 0.16 0.20 0.30

Soc Supp = Social support, PD = Psychological distancing, PPs = Planful problem solving, CC = Confrontive
coping, WTh = Wishful thinking, SC = Self control, PRe = Positive reappraisal
a b
high scores for decision indicates low decision latitude, high score on social support indicates low social
support, *p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001

studies among PPO in Sweden which reported that stress of
conscience increased the risk of EE and DP for both women
and men (Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2012). This is somewhat
surprising since in the analysis coping strategies was seen as a
confounder and is related to lower EE as well as DP.
Considerable attention has been given to how officers cope
with stress (Leonard and Alison 1999; Aaron 2000). Unlike
such studies which did not present a clear conceptual defini-
tion of coping, our study benefits from a well-accepted defi-
nition of coping based on cognitive theory of stress and coping
(Lazarus and Folkman 1984). Most previous papers defined
coping as the individual’s ability to manage his or her
Bemotional response to stressors and act to resolve the
stressors^ (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004; Pienaar et al.
2007). Leonard and Alison (1999) argue that people may
use both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies to allevi-
ate the stressor. The adaptive coping strategies include trying
to view the stressor positively, asking for social support, and
attempting to remove the stressor. Maladaptive coping strate-
gies include venting emotions, drug or alcohol use, or emo-
tionally distancing from the situation (Leonard and Alison
1999). In this study, high demand was also a significant pre-
dictor for EE among women and men, but to a less extent than
that of stress of conscience. Our findings are consistent with

Table 5 Hierarchical multiple

regression analysis to predict Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Depersonalization among men
b Standardized β b Standardized β B Standardized β

Demand 2.48 0.19*** 2.71 0.21** 0.97 0.08

Decision a 1.55 0.09 1.13 0.07 0.50 0.03
Soc.supp b 0.62 0.05 0.34 0.03 −0.07 −0.01
PD 0.23 0.25** 0.17 0.19*
PPS 0.08 0.05 0.07 0.05
CC −0.02 −0.01 −0.05 −0.01
WTh −0.25 −0.11 −0.48 −0.22*
SC 0.28 0.07 0.46 0.11
PRe −0.52 −0.20* −0.58 −0.22**
Stress of Conscience 0.03 0.40***
R2adjusted 0.05 0.08 0.19

Soc Supp = Social support, PD = Psychological distancing, PPs = Planful problem solving, CC = Confrontive
coping, WTh = Wishful thinking, SC = Self control, PRe = Positive reappraisal
a b
high score for decision indicates low decision latitude, high score on social support indicates low social
support, *p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001
J Police Crim Psych (2016) 31:229–237 235

Table 6 Hierarchical multiple

regression analysis to predict Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Depersonalization among women
b Standardized β b Standardized β b Standardized β

Demand 1.57 0.12* 1.52 0.12* 1.06 0.084

Decision a 2.56 0.17** 2.45 0.17** 2.39 0.16**
Soc.sup b 1.88 0.16** 1.33 0.11 1.25 0.11
PD 0.14 0.17 0.11 0.13
PPS −0.04 −0.03 −0.03 −0.02
CC −0.03 −0.01 −0.02 −0.01
WTh −0.10 −0.05 −0.11 −0.06
SC −0.12 −0.03 −0.11 −0.03
PRe −0.12 −0.05
Stress of Conscience 0.01 0.12
R2adjusted 0.08 0.08 0.09

Soc Supp = Social support, PD = Psychological distancing, PPs = Planful problem solving, CC = Confrontive
coping, WTh = Wishful thinking, SC = Self control, PRe = Positive reappraisal
a b
high scores for decision indicates low decision latitude, high score on social support indicates low social
support, *p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; ***; p < 0.001

the results reported on the general population of Sweden,
where high demand and low control (decision latitude) were
important predictors of EE (Magnusson Hanson et al. 2008).
Moreover, Taris and co-workers (2010) found in a longitudi-
nal study of Dutch police officers that there were high levels of
EE relating to high levels of demand.
Positive reappraisal was negatively associated with DP in-
dicating that male PPOs used positive reappraisal as a coping
strategy which included items such as B- I changed something
about myself^. According to that individuals using positive
reappraisal might be more optimistic, for example the item
Bchanged or grew as a person in a good way^ confirm this
statement. This could explain why people using this way of
thinking can relate more easily to other people and therefore
be less cynical.
In conclusion positive reappraisal was found to be a pro-
tective factor and has been linked with positive affect in stress-
ful encounters as Aldwin described (2007).
Low control together with stress of conscience for women
was the significant predictive factors for DP, indicating that
higher risk of depersonalization is associated with less control
in the work environment as well as troubled conscience.
Women in our study also showed significant higher scores
on stress of conscience than men did and this work seems
more stressful for female police officers. A finding similar to
a study performed in an American sample reported female
officers having higher levels of stress than male officers did
(He et al. 2002). These circumstances seem to be of more
importance than coping strategies. For men the coping strate-
gy Bpsychological distancing^ with items such as Bavoided
being with people in general^ had less impact on DP. This is
in line with a previous meta-analysis on associations between
coping and health-related outcomes, where Penley and co-
workers (2002) found a significant negative overall associa-
tion between avoidance- coping behavior and well-being.
The results showed that for women high social support was
associated with EE, but it had a much lower impact than stress
of conscience. This could be interpreted as that weak social
support is associated with poor psychological well-being for
women, a similar conclusion to that in the study done by
Thompson and co-workers (2005) in which work-based sup-
port from supervisors was predicted to reduce EE among
Australian policewomen. Furthermore, Thompson et al.
(2005) suggested that interventions aiming to reduce stress
among police women should focus on supervisor training in
social support.
Methodological Issues
One limitation with this study was the cross-sectional design
where no causal directions between psychosocial work envi-
ronment and EE and DP could be determined. However, lack
of studies in this topic was a reason for choosing cross-
sectional studies as a starting point for identifying important
risk factors in work environment for Swedish patrolling police
officers. Another limitation with the study was the response
rate (56 %); however, the sample was recruited from each of
the 21 regional police authorities in Sweden. The stratified
sample for gender was the strength of this study in that it
represented on an almost equal basis of each gender, which
is optimal for investigating gender aspects (Norlund et al.
2010). Importance of having large enough sample sizes for
each gender is also something that Martinussen et al. (2007)
236
mentions when studying gender differences in male dominat-
ed professions.
Conclusions
To sum up, our findings are aligned with similar results from
previous publications carried out under a comprehensive pro-
ject (Backteman-Erlanson et al. 2011, 2012) and suggest that
feelings of troubled conscience are positively associated with
emotional exhaustion and depersonalization among female
and male Swedish PPOs. Garbarino et al. 2013 also described
work-related stress might play a role when developing mental
health problems among police officers. Results from our study
is not straight forward, and further research is needed to ex-
plain the complex process of this association. These findings
can be seen as contributing to new perspectives on that trou-
bled conscience is associated with emotional exhaustion and
depersonalization within a police context, perspectives which
to our knowledge have not been reported before. Regarding
troubled conscience this study showed similar results for
women and men, also differences in coping strategies were
reported which indicate interventions to be designed in opti-
mal ways for women and men applied from our results. It is
also worth mentioning that most studies on police stress has
been on male samples and there is little empirically studied on
female police officers stress (Thompson et al. 2005). From our
point of view our studies provided important findings which
can be a start and can raise more interesting questions for
further research. We suggest both longitudinal studies and
qualitative research in order to develop an understanding
and knowledge about troubled conscience associations with
psychosocial work environment among patrolling police offi-
cers in Sweden.
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