Stress among Traffic Police Personnel in the Coastal Region of South India Kulkarni Vaman1, Mithra Prasanna1, Aujla Ravinder Singh2, Singh Kruttika2, Unnikrishnan B3, Jain Animesh4, Kumar Avinash1,* 1Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, (Manipal Academy of Higher Education), Mangalore, Karnataka 2MBBS Intern, Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, (Manipal Academy of Higher Education), Mangalore, Karnataka 3Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, (Manipal Academy of Higher Education), Mangalore, Karnataka 4Professor and Head of Department, Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, (Manipal Academy of Higher Education), Mangalore, Karnataka *Corresponding author: Avinash Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal Academy of Higher Education), Mangalore-575001. Phone no. +91-9538122904, Email: avinashkr566@gmail.com
Online published on 11 July, 2019. Abstract Background Traffic police job is one such job where stress is synonymous with the work and involves a lot of skill, coordination and patience. The large vehicular density in Mangaluru due to being a port city and an industrial hub, leads to high movement of heavy vehicles and makes it one of the busiest place in its district which affects the mental wellbeing of the traffic personnel. The present study was done to estimate the level of stress among the traffic police personnel in Mangaluru. The study was conducted among the traffic police personnel of two police stations: Kadri being situated within the city premised and Surathkal, situated on a major national highway. Method Data collection was done by organizing a camp. After taking the consent, information regarding the demographic details, habits, existing comorbid conditions was obtained and level of stress assessed using a structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using statistical package SPSS 16.0. Results were presented in the form of percentages and proportions, and p value <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results Maximum percentage of participants had a high stress level with 23.5% being < 30 years age. Higher levels of stress was associated with the place of posting i.e. urban and semi urban PS with p value <0.01. Conclusions Higher level of stress was found in personnel in the younger age group and statistically significant association was seen between the stress levels with the personal habits (smoking and alcohol consumption) and place of posting. Top Keywords Traffic police personnel, Stress, Perceived Stress Level. Top |