Evaluating the effectiveness of the fatigue and shift working risk management strategy for UK home office police forces : a pilot study

James, Lois and James, Stephen and Hesketh, Ian (2022) Evaluating the effectiveness of the fatigue and shift working risk management strategy for UK home office police forces : a pilot study. International Journal of Emergency Services, 11 (2). pp. 292-299. ISSN 2047-0894

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a fatigue-management training and sleep health promotion intervention in a sample of officers from UK Home Office Police Forces. Design/methodology/approach: Using a pre- and post-design we exposed 50 officers from selected UK police forces to a fatigue-management training intervention. Pre- and post-intervention data collection included wrist actigraphy, a physiological and objective measure of sleep quantity and quality, as well as surveys including the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) instrument, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the PTSD Checklist (PCL-5). Findings: We found the training significantly increased sleep quantity by 25 min per 24-h period, from 6.9 h to 7.3 h (f = 9.2; df = 519; p = 0.003), and improved sleep quality scores from 84% before the intervention, to 87% after the training (f = 10.6; df = 519; p = 0.001). Research limitations/implications: Continued research is necessary to guide nationwide implementation of fatigue-management and sleep health promotion programs. Practical implications: Our findings show that a fatigue-management training resulted in a significant and meaningful increase in sleep among police officers. Originality/value: This is the first piece of research to emerge from a full population survey (response rate 16.6%) of the UK police service exploring issues of sleep and fatigue.