Construcción del cuestionario de evaluación de riesgos psicosociales en la policía local (CERPPoL)

Resumen

Background. Law Enforcement Forces perform a social function that subjects this professional group to tensions and difficulties that generate a high degree of stress. In Spain, state and regional police forces are protected by legislation that has made it possible to create structures and institutions for the prevention of psychosocial risks to which agents are exposed. However, the Local Police is more unprotected in this matter, due to the dispersion and independence of these forces at a national level. For this reason, it is necessary to develop from the Occupational Health Psychology a theoretical and empirical framework that provides means of evaluation and intervention in matters of psychosocial problems, which make possible the adequate management of these professional’s health. Aim. Through this dissertation, it is intended to develop and test a psychosocial risk assessment questionnaire specifically addressed to the Local Police, which is based on a rigorous and in-depth study of the problems to which these police forces are subjected, with the appropriate psychometric characteristics and that allows the measurement of psychosocial risk factors and stress levels of these agents. Method. To achieve this purpose, three successive studies have been developed, in a cross-sectional, prospective and qualitative – quantitative design. The first qualitative study, applied through discussion groups in two Spanish geographical areas, was aimed at providing a preliminary vision of the usual stressors in the profession and would lay the foundations for taking the following steps. The second quantitative study was carried out on 869 agents throughout the national territory, and allowed the construction of the aforementioned questionnaire, through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis procedures, with the appropriate psychometric guarantees. The third quantitative study was aimed to test this instrument, making it possible to draw up a basic profile of risk factors and levels of distress present in the sample chosen for the previous study. Outcomes. The Cuestionario de Evaluación de Riesgos Psicosociales en la Policía Local [Psychosocial Risk Assessment Questionnaire in the Local Police] –CERPPoL– is an instrument composed by 75 items that measures the presence of eleven kinds of psychosocial risk factors and the level of stress they generate in local police officers, presenting adequate reliability and validity. Conclusions. The development of this dissertation provides a psychosocial evaluation questionnaire that enables its application for future research on the subject and that also allows its use as a tool for analysis and prevention of occupational risks in the Local Police forces.