Professor Jason Roach at the University will be working with the National Police Wellbeing Service on a research project examining the extent to which a pandemic has affected the health and wellbeing of the nation’s police officers.
As a result of the COVID outbreak, police officers have had to overcome new obstacles and deal with challenges of an unprecedented nature.
Now, a research project at the University of Huddersfield will paint a picture of policing among global pandemics and has received funding from the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) to carry out the research.
The Director of the University’s Center for Crime and Applied Policing, Professor Jason Roach, is to lead a team of researchers who will work with the NPWS to examine the extent to which the health and wellbeing of the country’s police officers.
The idea for the project came after Dr Roach acknowledged that the well-being of NHS staff working through pandemics had been well researched but, the same could not be said for officers. the police of the country and the psychological, emotional and physical ‘well-being’.
Working with him will be Dr Michelle Rogerson, Dr Melanie Flynn, Dr Ashley Cartwright as well as two PhD researchers Liam Curran and Rebecca McCarthy. they feel doing their job at different stages of the Covid19 Population.
“For example,” Professor Roach said, “at the initial stages when one could not be outside, social distance rules where it is clearer and easier for the police to to implement, ‘Stay at home, Save Lives. Protect the NHS’, compared to when the calm rules took place.We ask how they dealt with coercion in the evacuation it could be. “
The study will be distributed by the NPWS to thousands of police staff across England and Wales.
“The police force as a whole has been leaps and bounds over the last five years in dealing with staff mental health and wellbeing issues,” he said. Dr Roach said: “However, some forces are further down the ‘road of wellbeing’ than others, so we are likely to receive different responses from staff from different forces and working in different roles,” he said. e.
The second phase of the project will involve extensive interviews with UK police staff, to identify personal accounts of policing during the pandemic and to provide information. get more detailed in relation to the results of the study.
Dr Roach explains, “although the survey states ‘what’, we need to talk to police staff to understand ‘why’.
As well as identifying adverse effects that affect the well-being of UK police staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, the research team will also look for positive factors in how individuals responded to it. the negative impact on well-being of functioning during the pandemic. For example, what treatment strategies did they use, was it an exercise and talking to colleagues, or was there specific support from their police forces.
When the research project is complete, the findings will be published in an academic paper and presented to the UK Police College, to inform the maintenance of police wellbeing regarding COVID or any other future pandemics. .
Source:
University of Huddersfield