Exploring the life contexts of patrolling police officers in the European Union – A scoping review

Abstract

Background

Patrolling police officers engage in different mentally, socially, and physically challenging life contexts which may affect their life and health. The aim of this scoping review is twofold, to explore life contexts of patrolling officers in the European Union, and to investigate how their lives and health are affected by environmental characteristics within these contexts.

Methods

The scoping review followed Arksey and O’Malley’s methodology and included a critical appraisal. The environmental model within Kielhofner’s Model of Human Occupation was used in the thematic analysis. The review was reported following PRISMA-ScR.

Results

In the 16 included studies, two contexts (where environments interact with persons on different levels) were discovered: the global and the immediate context. No local contexts were found. Primarily, research on the social, and occupational environments, including qualities identified in these environments were found. However, some environmental characteristics within patrolling officers’ physical environments were also discovered.

Discussion

This review contributes to the emerging research area of police officers’ life contexts, by mapping contexts and environments affecting their life and health. However, to get a deeper understanding of how officers are affected by their environments, interviewing them regarding how their different contexts affect their everyday living, would be important.

Keywords:

• Activity
• environment
• health
• MOHO
• occupational
• patrol duty
• physical
• social
• thematic analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The review, including the study design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, as well as the writing of the manuscript, were funded by the Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation at Umeå University, Sweden. However, the funding body had no role in the preparation of this manuscript. Regarding the sources of funding for the articles included in the review, the data have not been collected.