Mental Health, Coping Strategies, and Work Engagement: Interrelationships Among Brazilian Military Police Officers

Background: Military police officers are exposed to occupational stressors associated with mental health, coping strategies, and work engagement. This study examined mental health indicators and their associations with coping strategies and work engagement among military police officers in the pre-pandemic period. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlational study was conducted in 2018 with 773 Brazilian military police officers from São Paulo (n = 506) and Paraná (n = 267). Participants completed the Work Stress Scale (WSS), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-HSS), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), and the Scale of Problem Coping Modes (EMEP). Results: The prevalence of occupational stress was 30.2%, with high proportions of Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization. Burnout was interpreted dimensionally (MBI-HSS subscales), with 17.6% (n = 134) joint prevalence of the high Emotional Exhaustion + high Depersonalization + low Personal Accomplishment profile, alongside frequent mixed profiles (e.g., 38.3% with high Depersonalization + low Personal Accomplishment). In the multivariable model, the 6 h shift was associated with higher odds of stress (OR = 7.76; 95% CI: 1.02–58.79), while the absence of self-reported health/quality-of-life issues was associated with lower odds (OR = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.39–0.94), along with Emotional Exhaustion (OR = 1.15; 95% CI: 1.10–1.20) and Depersonalization (OR = 1.12; 95% CI: 1.04–1.20). In sensitivity analysis, work shift was not associated with stress (aOR = 1.20; 95% CI: 0.66–2.21). Stress and burnout dimensions were negatively correlated with work engagement (r = −0.52), problem-focused coping, and social support and positively correlated with emotion-focused coping. São Paulo officers reported higher engagement and greater use of problem-focused coping and social support, whereas those in Paraná reported greater reliance on emotion-focused coping. Conclusions: Stress and burnout dimensions may coexist with high engagement, supporting the need for integrated institutional strategies that address organizational stressors (e.g., workload schedules) and strengthen potentially protective coping repertoires, while accounting for contextual differences between units. The high prevalence of burnout profiles underscores the urgency of preventive interventions to mitigate syndromic manifestations in high-stress occupations.