Addressing Organisationally Induced Stress in a Police Jurisdiction: An Australian Case Study
| Published date | 01 September 2006 |
| Date | 01 September 2006 |
| Author | Juanita Muller,Elizabeth Kendall,Stella Stevens |
| DOI | 10.1350/ijps.2006.8.3.198 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Addressing organisationally induced
stress in a police jurisdiction: an
Australian case study
Stella Stevens‡, Juanita Muller†and Elizabeth Kendall¥
‡(Corresponding author) School of Public Health, Griffith University, Meadowbrook,
Queensland 4131, Australia. Tel: 61 7 3382 1025; fax: 61 7 3382 1034; email:
s.stevens@griffith.edu.au
†Centre for Work, Leisure & Community Research, Griffith University, Logan Campus,
Meadowbrook, Queensland 4131, Australia. Tel: 61 7 3382 1113; fax: 61 7 3382 1414;
email: j.muller@griffith.edu.au
¥Centre for Work, Leisure & Community Research, Disability, Community and Vocational
Rehabilitation, Griffith University, Logan Campus, Meadowbrook, Queensland 4131,
Australia. Tel: 61 7 3382 1202; fax: 61 7 3382 1414; email e.kendall@griffith.edu.au
Received 2 August 2005; accepted 9 November 2005
Stella Stevens,
PhD is a Senior Lecturer in the
Faculty of Health at Griffith University. She has
conducted several research projects focusing on
absenteeism, stress and workplace health in
emergency care settings and is currently
engaged in researching leadership issues. She
teaches in the area of work and health, leader-
ship and management.
Juanita Muller
, PhD is an organisational psy-
chologist and senior research fellow at the Cen-
tre for Work, Leisure and Community Research,
Griffith University. She is a registered psycholo-
gist and is a member of the Australian Psycho-
logical Society. Her research interests include
unemployment, women and work, mental health
and well-being. For the last two years she has
been the University-based project manager for
the occupational health evaluation for this police
jurisdiction.
Elizabeth Kendall
has a PhD in Psychology (and
is Associate Professor in Rehabilitation and Disa-
bility Studies). She has 20 years of experience in
the areas of community and vocational rehabili-
tation following traumatic injury. She is currently
the Research Director of the Rehabilitation Disa-
bility and Injury Management unit at Griffith Uni-
versity and Associate Director of the Centre for
National Research on Disability and Rehabilita-
tion at University of Queensland. Over the last 10
years, she has managed a multi-disciplinary
research agenda focusing on return to work fol-
lowing injury and appropriate management of
work-related disability.
A
BSTRACT
Over 3,500 employees in a police jurisdiction
have participated in a health promotion initiative
designed to encourage staff to take responsibility
for their health. This project was part of a range
of initiatives to address workplace stress and
involved physical and medical testing and advice.
This paper presents the results of interviews with
83 participants about the impact of the pro-
gramme on their health behaviours and the extent
to which they feel it has helped them manage
workplace stress better. Although health promo-
tion in the workplace is often criticised as a
common response by organisations seeking to
reduce stress for their workforce by placing the
responsibility for that back on to the individual,
this study demonstrates that there can be several
positive outcomes. Not least of these is a reported
International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume 8 Number 3
International Journal of Police
Science and Management,
Vol. 8 No. 3, 2006, pp. 198–204.
© Vathek Publishing,
1461–3557
Page 198
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