Police officers’ work–life balance, job satisfaction and quality of life: longitudinal effects after changing the shift schedule

• Published in: BMJ open Vol. 12; no. 9; p. e063302
• Main Authors: Rohwer, Elisabeth, Velasco Garrido, Marcial, Herold, Robert, Preisser, Alexandra Marita, Terschüren, Claudia, Harth, Volker, Mache, Stefanie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 20.09.2022; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Series: Original research
• Subjects: Cross-Sectional Studies; EPIDEMIOLOGY; Female; Gender differences; Humans; Hypotheses; Job Satisfaction; Male; MENTAL HEALTH; OCCUPATIONAL & INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE; Occupational and Environmental Medicine; Occupational health; Occupational stress; Police; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Response rates; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Shift work; Sleep deprivation; Surveys and Questionnaires; Work-Life Balance; Working conditions; MENTAL HEALTH; EPIDEMIOLOGY; OCCUPATIONAL & INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-063302

ObjectivesTo evaluate mental health-related outcomes of police officers 5.5 years after implementing a new alternating shift schedule which was supposed to improve their health and work–life balance.DesignPre–post study design with a baseline survey at the beginning of the piloting of the new shift schedule in 2015 and another survey 5.5 years later in 2020.SettingPolice departments of a German metropolitan police force piloting the new shift schedule.Participants116 shift-working police officers out of a population of 1673 police officers at the follow-up date.InterventionsNew shift schedule based on occupational health recommendations.Outcomes measuresWork–life balance, job satisfaction and quality of life.MethodsMixed analyses of variances were used to test the hypotheses of within-subject and between-subject differences regarding time and gender.ResultsWe found partly significant differences between the baseline and follow-up survey for work–life balance (F(1, 114) = 6.168, p=0.014, ηp² = 0.051), job satisfaction (F(1, 114) = 9.921, p=0.002, ηp² = 0.080) and quality of life (F(1, 114) = 0.593, p=0.443, ηp² = 0.005). Neither significant differences between male and female police officers nor interaction effects of time and gender were found.ConclusionAn increase was found for each of the three outcomes 5.5 years after implementing the new shift schedule. The results contribute to the current state of research on mental health-related outcomes of working conditions in shift work. On this basis, recommendations for designing shift schedules can be deduced to promote mental health and job satisfaction for employees in shift work.