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Mental health and wellbeing of Australian police and emergency services employees.

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Open access
Authors
Kyron, Michael J
Rikkers, Wavne
Bartlett, Jennifer
Renehan, Emma
Hafekost, Katherine
Baigent, Michael
Cunneen, Rebecca
Lawrence, David
Date
2021
Type
Journal Article

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Citation
Kyron, M.J. and Rikkers, W. and Bartlett, J. and Renehan, E. and Hafekost, K. and Baigent, M. and Cunneen, R. et al. 2021. Mental health and wellbeing of Australian police and emergency services employees. Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health. 77 (4): pp. 282-292.
Source Title
Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health
DOI
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Faculty
Faculty of Health Sciences
School
Curtin School of Population Health
Remarks

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health on 3 Mar 2021available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/19338244.2021.1893631

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Abstract

Answering the Call, the Australian National Police and Emergency Services Mental Health and Wellbeing Study, surveyed 14,868 Australian ambulance, fire and rescue, police, and state emergency service employees. Emergency services personnel had lower rates of mental wellbeing and higher rates of psychological distress and probable PTSD than the general adult population. Overall 30% had low wellbeing, 21% had high and 9% had very high psychological distress, and 10% had probable PTSD. An estimated 5% had suicidal ideation and 2% had a suicide plan in the past 12 months, while 16% binge drink at least weekly. Only one in five of those with very high psychological distress or probable PTSD felt they received adequate support for their condition. These findings highlight the risk of mental health conditions associated with work in the emergency services sector.