Proof of concept and feasibility of the app-based ‘#SWPMoveMore Challenge’: Impacts on physical activity and well-being in a police population
| Author | Robert James Copeland,Matt Jukes,Ian Hesketh,Marc Rocca,Kathryn Chadd,Owen Thomas,Helen Oliver |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X211024690 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue Articles |
Special Issue: Are we OK? The State of Wellbeing in Policing
Proof of concept and
feasibility of the app-based
‘#SWPMoveMore
Challenge’: Impacts on
physical activity and well-
being in a police population
Helen Oliver and Owen Thomas
Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, UK
Robert James Copeland
Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
Ian Hesketh
College of Policing, Wolsingham, Crook, UK
Matt Jukes
Metropolitan Police Service, Greater London, UK; Police Sport UK,
London, UK
Kathryn Chadd
South Wales Police, Bridgend, UK
Marc Rocca
Rocca Creative Thinking Limited, Sheffield, UK
Abstract
An app-based physical activity intervention (#SWPMoveMore Challenge) was completed
by 239 workers from one UK police force using a quasi-experimental design. Impacts
Corresponding author:
Helen Oliver, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cyncoed Campus, Cyncoed Road, Cardiff CF23 6XD, UK.
Email: holiver@cardiffmet.ac.uk
The Police Journal:
Theory, Practice and Principles
ªThe Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/0032258X211024690
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2022, Vol. 95(1) 170 –189
Oliver et al. 171
were assessed against minute s of movement, individual differ ence and work-related
stress variables using quantitative and qualitative approaches. The concept was feasible
and translatable to a UK police population and the intervention significantly benefited
direct measures of physical activity and perceptions of vitality, job stress, job satisfaction,
negative coping strategy use and engagement at work. The intervention was also
motivational in helping individuals take-up and maintain physical activity and positively
impacted morale and comradery within the work-force.
Keywords
Physical activity, police, psychological well-being, stress
Introduction
Policing is recognized as a highly stressful occupation where officers and staff deal with
a complex combination of multiple operational (i.e., duty related stressors such as shift
work, risk of being injured on the job, traumatic events) and organizational stressors (i.e.,
factors related to the organization, such as dealing with co-workers, too much computer
work; McCreary and Thompson, 2006). Stress can adversely impact a range of health
outcomes, with research in a police context indicating stress has led police officers to
suffer from increased physical disorders (e.g., cardiovascular disease; Hartley et al.,
2011), mental ill-health (e.g., anxiety and depression, Nelson and Smith, 2016 and
post-traumatic stress disorder, Foley and Massey, 2019), and impaired psychological
well-being (e.g., Duran et al., 2018). Psychological well-being refers to the presence of
positive functioning, and should be considered separately to mental ill-health, as the
absence of mental ill-health does not indicate well-being (Dodge et al., 2012). Rather
than adopting a mental ill-being perspective, it has been suggested that well-being
support for police workers should target protective factors that build resilience against
the negative effects of stress (Carlson-Johnson et al., 2020).
Research informed by models of work-related stress can help explain which factors
contribute to the experience and predict how well-being might be impacted or protected
(O’Driscoll and Brough, 2010). The most widely accepted conceptualization of stress is
Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) transactional theory, in which stress is described as a
process between stressors/demands, coping and well-being. Appraisal is a central
mechanism, whereby when faced with a stressor, individuals evaluate (appraise)
its significance and employ coping resources to deal with the demand if threat or harm
is perceived. Specifically, if individuals perceive the stressor is salient, and perceive that
they do not have the resources available to cope, stress responses will be experienced,
and an individual’s well-being will suffer. Thus, it follows that targeting perceptions of
stressors and/or coping resources might protect well-being. However, Lazarus and Folk-
man’s perspective is often deemed too complex to use in empirical research, and the
majority of stress-related research within policing has overlooked the appraisals/coping
mechanism relationship (see Brough et al., 2018). Brough et al. (2018) underpinned their
research in the Australian police with the transactional stress process and found that
2The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles XX(X)
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