Date of Conferral

2019

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

Chuck Williamson

Abstract

Over 90 percent of police officers in Nigeria are confronted with psychological illness and injuries as a result of occupational stress, which is compounded by a lack of attention to police officer welfare by government, insufficient annual leave, and poor salaries that contribute to poor performance. Using Karasek's demands on decision and control model as the foundation, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the impact of occupational stress on police officers in a metropolitan police agency in Nigeria. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 senior police officers who had at least 20 years experience in law enforcement in Nigeria. These data were inductively coded and subjected to thematic analysis that resulted in 8 themes. These themes included insufficient police personnel, limited environmental resources, family-work conflict, unclear work roles, inadequate counselling and training procedures, conflict from job demands, extended working hours, and inadequate salary level as factors contributing to occupational stress. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations to Nigerian police executives to improve awareness of how to effectively manage factors responsible for occupational stress among police officers to promote a balanced work-life experience, good health, and more professionalism in their duties of protecting life and property.

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