OP6

OP6

EVALUATING AND BENCHMARKING MENTAL WELLBEING IN AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA, THE IRISH POLICE SERVICE

1. Carr, V. Horkan, S. Dalton, O. Oghuvbu, An Garda, Siochana, Dublin, Ireland

Background:

The short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale [s-WEMWS] is a validated scale which was developed to monitor general population mental wellbeing and evaluate wellbeing projects(1). Cut off points are pre-defined as a score < 19.6: low mental wellbeing (15% of population), and a score > 27.4: high wellbeing (15% of population); score range 7 to 35(2).

Aims:

To evaluate and benchmark mental wellbeing in An Garda Siochana [AGS] using a validated tool.

Methods:

An anonymous online survey was distributed to all AGS personnel. The s-WEMWS was utilised to measure organisational wellbeing.

A scoping literature search was conducted to benchmark rates of wellbeing amongst blue-light organisations. Google Scholar was searched using search terms “Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale” AND “police”. 60 papers were screened and 2 utilised as a benchmarking comparisons.

Results:

6,914 responses were received [41% response rate]. The survey results had an average score of 23.9 [population Average 23.5]. 19% of AGS respondents fell below the low wellbeing cut-off, however, 24% of the AGS respondents were above the high wellbeing cut-off.

Benchmarking this, a survey of Australian blue-light services demonstrated 31% of respondents to have low wellbeing and 6% to have high wellbeing [Low,High: Ambulance 27%,6%, Fire & Rescue 29%,5%, Police 32%,6%, State Emergency Services 28%,6%](3).

AGS had a higher standard mean score compared with a UK police force (23.9 versus 20.2)(4).

Conclusions:

Mental Wellbeing in AGS personnel had a higher proportion of high wellbeing compared with the general population, and a significantly higher proportion compared with other blue-light organisations.

References:

1. Warwick University, Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, published online, accessed 17.2.25, available via: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/research/platform/wemwbs/about/wemwbsvsswemwbs
2. Ng Fat, L., Scholes, S., Boniface, S., Mindell, J., & Stewart-Brown, S. (2017). Evaluating and establishing national norms for mental wellbeing using the short Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS): Findings from the Health Survey for England. Quality of Life Research: An International Journal of Quality of Life Aspects of Treatment, Care & Rehabilitation, 26(5), 1129–1144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-016-1454-8
3. Lawrence D, Kyron M, Rikkers W, Bartlett J, Hafekost K, Goodsell B, Cunneen R, Answering the call: National Survey of the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Police and Emergency Services. Detailed Report. Perth: Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia, 2018
4. Elliott-Davies M. PFEW demand, capacity and welfare survey 2018: Headline Statistics December 2018. Police Federation. 2019 May.