Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Sep 28;21(10):1300.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph21101300.

Assessment of the Mental Health of Police Officers: A Systematic Review of Specific Instruments

Davi Oliveira Teles  1 , Raquel Alves de Oliveira  1 , Anna Luísa de Oliveira Parnaíba  2 , Mariana Araújo Rios  2 , Melissa Bezerra Machado  2 , Priscila de Souza Aquino  1 , Purdenciana Ribeiro de Menezes  1 , Samila Gomes Ribeiro  1 , Paula Renata Amorim Lessa Soares  1 , Camila Biazus Dalcin  3 , Ana Karina Bezerra Pinheiro  1
Affiliations

Assessment of the Mental Health of Police Officers: A Systematic Review of Specific Instruments

Davi Oliveira Teles et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: The objective was to identify validated instruments from the literature that assess the mental health of police officers.

Methods: This is a systematic review of validated instruments used to assess the mental health of police officers. Searches were conducted in the MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, CINAHL/EBSCO, and Virtual Health Library databases. This review follows the JBI Manual for Systematic Reviews and the PRISMA statement. The methodological quality of the articles and the risk of bias were assessed.

Results: A total of 1530 studies were identified across the six databases, with 158 studies read in full by the authors after excluding duplicates and those that did not meet the inclusion criteria. The final 29 studies were analyzed for methodological quality and risk of bias using the AXIS and SFS-D tools.

Conclusion: This review identified 27 self-administered validated instruments useful for assessing various mental health outcomes in police officers, with the most frequently used being the Police Stress Questionnaire. These findings may help guide security force administration, occupational health professionals, and mental health researchers in selecting and implementing psychometrically reliable instruments for screening the mental health of police officers.

Keywords: mental health; police; surveys and questionnaires; systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of the study selection process. Source: Adapted from PRISMA checklist by the authors, 2024.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sampaio F., Coelho J., Gonçalves P., Sequeira C. Protective and Vulnerability Factors of Municipal Workers’ Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Study. Int. J. Envion. Res. Public Health. 2022;19:14256. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114256. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Demou E., Hale H., Hunt K. Understanding the mental health and wellbeing needs of police officers and staff in Scotland. Police Pract. Res. 2020;21:702–716. doi: 10.1080/15614263.2020.1772782. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Queirós C., Passos F., Bártolo A., Marques A.J., Silva C.F., Pereira A. Burnout and Stress Measurement in Police Officers: Literature Review and a Study With the Operational Police Stress Questionnaire. Front. Psychol. 2020;11:587. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00587. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allison P., Mnatsakanova A., McCanlies E., Fekedulegn D., Hartley T.A., Andrew M.E., Violanti J.M. Police stress and depressive symptoms: Role of coping and hardiness. Polic. Int. J. 2019;43:247–261. doi: 10.1108/PIJPSM-04-2019-0055. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hofer M.S., Gilbert A.R., Swartz M.S. Police Mental Health: A Neglected Element of Police Reform. Psychiatr. Serv. 2021;72:985. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.72902. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources