The Impact of Professional Stress on the Mental Health of Law Enforcement Officers

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To investigate the impact of professional stress on the mental health of law enforcement officers. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: The research involved two groups of law enforcement officers (aged 25-40): the first group with up to 7 years of service activities (n = 52), the second group - 8-15 years (n = 48). Research methods: bibliosemantic, questionnaire, testing, method of system analysis and generalization, mathematical and statistical. RESULTS: Results: It was found that law enforcement officers of both groups identified indicators of a significant professional workload, lack of adequate rest, and the nature of communication with participants in professional relationships among the factors of professional stress. It is proved that the mental health of law enforcement officers deteriorates under the influence of professional stress with the experience of their professional activities. Law enforcement officers with 8-15 years of service experience have significantly (p < 0.05-0.001) worse indicators of anxiety, aggressiveness, motivation, personal detachment, impulsive¬ness, vigor, and work efficiency. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: It was established that the professional stress of law enforcement officers is the result of an imbalance between the internal resources of the individual and the requirements of the external environment, embodied in the peculiarities of law enforcement activities. Law enforcement officers are char¬acterized by the presence of professional stress of average and high severity, which increases with the experience of their service activities. A set of measures was proposed to provide psychological assistance to law enforcement officers to effectively counteract professional stress and improve their mental health.