Thesis (M. A. (Psychology)) --University of Limpopo, 2017. / This study endeavours to identify and describe the stress experiences of South African Police
Personnel (SAPS) in a specific municipal area. The components of stress and related coping
mechanisms are of particular interest in policing as much research indicates that officers
suffer from stress related illnesses. The research was thus undertaken to determine what type
of stressors affect police officers in the Greater Tzaneen Municipal Area, Limpopo Province,
and what type of coping strategies they use. A quantitative approach utilising a cross
sectional survey design was used for the investigation. Stratified random sampling was used
to draw the sample of SAPS officers from the different police stations in Greater Tzaneen
Municipal Area. Data was collected by means of questionnaires namely the Police Stress
Inventory (PSI) and the Coping Inventory (COPE). Ethical considerations, as required by the
University of Limpopo, were followed. Results included the fact that of the top ten stressors
five were organisational stressors. This finding suggests that the South African Police
Services in this area must provide interventions that reduce the effects of work related
stressors. They should also recruit more female officers as the gender disparity is a notable
one. Results suggest that no matter what age, religion, language, gender, marital status and
rank, all respondents are alike in terms of the use of Avoidant Coping strategies. These are used to some degree however; the majority of respondents use Problem Focused Coping
strategies together with Emotionally Focused Coping strategies. This suggests that the sample was able to handle negative stressors in a positive manner. It was concluded that a police force that reflects the general demographic of the area is more likely to provide a community driven workforce
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/2018 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Mushwana, M. R. V. |
| Contributors | Nel., K. A. |
| Publisher | University of Limpopo |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | xi, 131 leaves |
| Relation |
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