Supervisors info:
Δρ. Ντρίνια Χαρίκλεια, Καθηγ. ΕΚΠΑ
Δρ. Λέκκας Ευθύμης, Καθηγ. ΕΚΠΑ
Δρ. Δανάμος Γιώργος, Δρ. Γεωλόγος, Ε.Δ.Ι.Π. ΕΚΠΑ
Ρούκας Δημήτριος, Ψυχίατρος-Ψυχοθεραπευτής
Summary:
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is without a doubt the most important health crisis of the 21st century, which has drastically confounded the daily lives of modern societies, causing, among other things, adverse effects on the physical and mental health of people.In an effort to control and manage this unprecedented situation, governments have taken public precautionary measures, to control the spread of the virus, which in addition to their beneficial action, have caused significant cracks in the mental balance of modern man, increasing the experience of negative anxiety and depression. In this context, the contribution and role of law enforcement is considered particularly critical and vital, which during the current pandemic crisis has undertaken, through its staff, to carry out a difficult and complex project. This task aims both at surveillance and control of non-dissemination measures concerning the coronavirus, as well as at maintaining the security of societies, while endangering the physical and mental health of its staff, given the characteristics of the disease and the stressful nature of the police profession. Indicatively, the World Health Organization and other international bodies have identified law enforcement personnel as the first responders to be most vulnerable to mental health problems during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Aim and Goals: The aim of this study, through the review of the international literature, is to investigate the psychosocial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the staff of the Greek Police, during the fourth ongoing pandemic wave, examining the multiple levels of depressive manifestations, given its active participation in the process of monitoring the implementation of non-dissemination Covid-19 measures. Impact investigation will contribute, on the one hand, to the easier understanding and introspection of the possible causes and factors that lead to their expression, and on the other hand, to the emergence of strategies, policies and practices for the best possible protection and shielding of this working group against such adverse situations.
Methodology: To achieve this goal, a quantitative survey was conducted, utilizing an anonymous online questionnaire, on a sample of three hundred and thirty-five (335) active police officers, who serve in various services throughout the Greek region.The questionnaire consisted of four (4) sections, in which twenty (20) questions were distributed, concerning their basic demographic data, the self-perception about their state of health and official status during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the scale measuring depression (PHQ-9) in the Greek language.
Results: The majority of participants, specifically the 74.3% of the sample, appeared to have absence / minimal depressive symptoms, while the 25.7% had mild to severe depressive symptoms. In particular, dividing the overall recorded rate of depression into its levels / categories, it emerged that 18.8% had mild depression, 4.5% had moderate depression, 1.8% had moderate to severe depression, and 0.6% had severe depression. Furthermore, research has shown that indicative factors such as gender, self-reported good / moderate / poor health, history of mental disorders, treatment for mental health, fear of exposure to the coronavirus during personnel’s service, active participation in the implementation of restrictive measures for the non-dissemination of COVID-19 pandemic along with the experience of much to too much additional pressure, are related to the increased likelihood of depressive episodes concerning the personnel in Greek law enforcement, during the current health crisis. Finally, the results of this research indicate a greater psychosocial burden in women rather than men.
Conclusions: Although the findings of the present study indicate a small burden on the psychosocial sphere of law enforcement personnel during the pandemic time under consideration, they nevertheless pinpoint the need for further systematic holistic investigation of the personnel’s psychosocial response in such health crisis situations, in an effort to design and establish strategies, policies and measures for the protection and promotion of personnel’s psychosocial health.
Keywords:
coronavirus, Covid-19 pandemic, health crisis, psychosocial effects, Greek Police personnel, depressive manifestations, depression scale PHQ-9.
