Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Wayne Wallace

Abstract

Occupational stressors in police work are abundant, and high rates of attrition make the recruiting and maintaining of a qualified force challenging. The increased risks that overnight officers face with regard to their mental and/or physical health warrant further research to ensure that burnout does not interfere with officers’ well-being or performance. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental study was to examine whether sleep quality for police officers involved in shift work leads to burnout or the intention to leave law enforcement. Shift work theory and Kundi’s destabilization theory provided the framework for the study. Archival data from 212 police officers and survey data from 84 officers were analyzed to assess the relationship between sleep quality, level of burnout, and intention to leave law enforcement. Officers working the third shift in the survey did not report lower sleep quality. Sleep quality was not related to officers’ shift work, and third shift officers did not report increased intention to leaving law enforcement. These determinations may be used as a foundation to build future research that reveals a connection between shiftwork and retention. This information could be used to promote positive social change by aiding law enforcement leaders and decision makers in creating programs to improve the lives of their officers and the communities they serve.

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