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Introduction
Occupational stress occurs when the resources of the response people are insufficient to cope with work demands and pressures and may result in negative psychological and/or physiological changes (Michie, 2002; Richardson and Rothstein, 2008). Occupational stress that is not treated early and appropriately becomes chronic and may result in burnout, involving depersonalization or cynicism, emotional exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment (Joaquim et al., 2018; Luo et al., 2016; Maslach and Jackson, 1984; Schaufeli et al., 2009; Wang et al., 2015). Afterwards, ongoing occupational stress and burnout have several physical, psychological and occupational consequences to workers such as musculoskeletal pain, headaches, fatigue, type 2 diabetes, depression, insomnia, absenteeism, job dissatisfaction, turnover intention, etc. (Lee et al., 2011; Salvagioni et al., 2017).
Occupational stress is now generally accepted as a common health hazard across a variety of occupations and job roles such as teachers (Desouky and Allam, 2017; Johnson et al., 2005), healthcare professionals (Bernburg et al., 2016; Hasan et al., 2018; Wu et al., 2010), social workers (Johnson et al., 2005), prison officers (Johnson et al., 2005), ambulance service (Johnson et al., 2005; Young and Cooper, 1997), etc. Police work is also an occupation with high stress levels due to the inherent nature of this work (Anshel, 2000; Chu, 2015; Houdmont, 2017; Maran et al., 2018a; Martinussen et al., 2007; Stinchcomb, 2004). Police officers suffer from occupational stress and are a high-risk group for mental disorders due to significant job-related stressors and exposures that are experienced, e.g. work injuries, violence, shift work, lack of support, job demands, fatigue, long working hours, etc. (Berg et al., 2005; Houdmont and Randall, 2016; Nelson and Smith, 2016; Seok et al., 2015). Stress negatively affects mental and physical health of police officers resulting in various consequences such as increased risk of metabolic syndrome, dyslipidaemia, obesity and hypertension, poor sleep quality, alcohol and drug abuse, job dissatisfaction, absenteeism, reduced productivity, etc. (Alexopoulos et al., 2014; Charles et al., 2011; Garbarino and Magnavita, 2015; Hartley et al., 2011; Magnavita et al., 2018; Masilamani et al., 2013; Smith et al., 2005; Sterud et al., 2007).
Several studies have...