Coping strategies, resilience and job satisfaction among police officers in Uganda

Abstract

Globally, the policing function continues to change with the changing times and policing is one of the most stressful and dangerous professions in the world with higher risks and greater vulnerabilities leading to adverse physical and psychological effects on police officers. Despite these huge challenging situations, police officers continue to serve and protect. The urge to discover what keeps police officers afloat gave birth to this study that sought to establish the relationship between coping strategies, resilience, and job satisfaction among police officers in Uganda. The study revealed a significant positive relationship between problem focused coping and resilience (r =.44 p=.001), problem focused coping and job satisfaction (r =.51 p=.001) and a significant positive relationship between resilience and job satisfaction (r =54 p = .001). Problem focused coping revealed a positive significant effect on resilience (B=.11, p=.000) and showed an effect on job satisfaction (B=.32, p=.000). Resilience was found to have a positive effect on job satisfaction (B=.09, p=.000). It was further revealed that the indirect effects of problem focused coping on job satisfaction through resilience were significant (B=.04, (1[.01, .07]). Since the direct effects are significant, it was concluded that resilience mediates the relationship between problem-focused coping and job satisfaction. Keeping in mind that police officers who coped well were more resilient and derived pleasure from their policing career, the management of the Uganda Police Force should commit adequate resources to recruit and maintain behavioural scientists who should be tasked to design interventions to improve officer coping strategies that result into better resilience and job satisfaction