Do police experience trauma during routine work? An analysis of work-related potentially traumatic events and expressed trauma in a sample of Ghanaian police officers

ABSTRACT

Existing research associates police work with stress and mental health challenges due to routine exposure to potentially traumatic incidents. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are under-represented in this literature. In this study, we explored the relationship between work-related potentially traumatic events and expressed trauma symptoms in a sample of 121 Ghanaian police officers. Ninety-seven (97) male and 24 female police officers participated in a semi-structured interview about on-the-job potentially traumatic events and completed a self-report measure of trauma symptoms. Overall, 71.9% of officers were exposed to at least one work-related PTE and 61.2% of officers endorsed at least one trauma. We found that dealing with traffic accidents, assaults and observing autopsy are the top critical incidents. We also found that observing autopsy and officer rank were predictive of expressed trauma. We discuss the findings within the context of a need to examine effects of potentially traumatic events on work and implications for mental health.

KEYWORDS:

• Ghana
• trauma
• potentially traumatic events
• critical incidents
• police
• ptsd

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicting interests.

Additional information

Funding

There was no specific funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Adote Anum

Christina Barnett, M.S., graduated from Wesleyan University (BA) and is a Doctoral Candidate in the Counseling Psychology program at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is currently a Doctoral Intern at Howard University Counseling Services. Her research explores the impact of contemporary and historical oppression on the psychological well-being of Black Americans.

Dr. Adote Anum is a clinical psychologist and lecturer at the University of Ghana. He has a PhD from Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. His research covers issues in mental health and cross-cultural issues in cognition. He is typically interested in explanatory factors in development of cognition and intelligence in children, particularly exploring differences among different socioeconomic groups.

Bright Acquah graduated from the University of Ghana (BA). He was a Chief Inspector Police Officer and currently a Cadet Officer in further training of the Ghana Police Academy. His interests are in Security and Conflict Resolution.

Dr. Vivian A. Dzokoto graduated from the University of Ghana (BSc) and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (PhD). She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. A Clinical and Cultural Psychologist by training, she is interested in exploring emotion, mental health, religious, and financial consumer experiences in Africa and its diaspora.