Research Article: Mental Health Status of New Police Trainees before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract:
This study aimed to investigate the mental health of new police trainees during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Korea. Two groups of police trainees were surveyed considering the distribution of gender, age, and education level: those who joined the school before COVID-19 and those who joined during the outbreak. Mental health indicators, including insomnia, depression, and anxiety, were compared between the two groups. The prevalence of insomnia, depression, and anxiety significantly varied in the group that joined during COVID-19 compared with the group that joined before. Specifically, insomnia showed a significant change in women, with a higher rate of 2.6%. Although the prevalence of depression was initially low, it increased from 0.4% to 1.3% during the pandemic. Anxiety rates also showed notable differences, particularly among women, with a higher rate of 4.7%. The highest differences in prevalence were observed in the low-income group, with a rate of 7.7% for anxiety. The findings highlight the vulnerability of police officers to psychosocial effects during disasters such as pandemics. Disaster preparedness programs or education can be integrated into new police officer training institutions to help manage mental health changes and promote overall well-being.
Introduction:
The duties of the police are to protect the lives, bodies, and property of citizens and to maintain public well-being and order, including the prevention and suppression of crime and investigative work [1]. With the lawful right to use force, police officers’ physical and mental health is crucial for their well-being and community benefit. As first responders, police officers face a work environment laden with traumatic events, violence, armed conflicts, and exposure to serious injuries [2,3]. Within their initial…
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