What do you know? : Ensuring there is evidence to support meaningful well-being interventions in UK policing

Hesketh, Ian (2024) What do you know? : Ensuring there is evidence to support meaningful well-being interventions in UK policing. In: Multi-faceted Approaches to Challenges and Coping in Law Enforcement : Police Badge Is One Badge. Springer, Cham, pp. 49-63. ISBN 9783031628245

Abstract

The first UK National Police Wellbeing Survey was designed to assess the current state of well-being (US Wellness) from the perspective of the policing workforce itself. It was conducted within the 43 Home Office forces in England and Wales. These account for the entirety of UK Home Office forces, although there are several other "non-Home Office" forces (EG Police Scotland, Police Service of Northern Ireland, and British Transport Police). The research was conducted by independent researchers from Durham University Business School, the University of Reading, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. The purpose of this research was to establish the current state of well-being via the voice of those employed within UK policing, including both police officers and police staff. The aims of the first survey of its kind in the United Kingdom were to establish key measures for workplace factors, staff attitudes, motivation, and well-being which can be tracked over time and can provide findings that can be used to inform, design, and deliver future well-being programs. These programs include leadership, resilience, and how to create an environment in which those involved in policing can pursue careers that are high in meaning and are purposeful, the tenets of well-being. The survey was designed in order that every member of the police service can contribute in a safe environment. This chapter will outline the journey taken in conceiving, commissioning, designing, developing, delivering, analyzing, and communicating the survey findings. Further, the initial design and piloting of leadership for well-being courses that focus on evidence-based meaningful interventions that directly address the findings of the survey. An initial evaluation overview will be included and a vision of what the future may look like, including lessons learned, to inform the next survey. It should be noted that the first survey was conducted, in its entirety, before the COVID-19 outbreak and consisted of 35,318 useable responses.