engleski

Testing the effectiveness of a running programme on the mental health of Croatian police officers

Police work is one of the most stressful in the world and can leave consequences upon officers’ health. One of adaptive coping mechanisms that officers often use is workout, but with emphasis on the physical not psychological benefit, and more often they use anaerobic programs. Research shows that running workout improves mental health so the aim of this study was the experimental validation of the effectiveness of running workout program regarding the mental health of officers. The study was conducted on 31 subjects - 14 officers were in the experimental and 17 in the active control group. Before and after the completion of the 8 week running program, the respondents completed questionnaires: BAI (Beck Anxiety Inventory), BDI (Beck Depression Inventory), ASI (Anxiety Sensitivity Index) and CORE-OM (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure). There were statistically significant differences between the results prior and after the program for the whole sample. Results of Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that there was statistically significant improvement of BDI results and the results on 3 CORE-OM subscales for the whole sample regardless of the group qualification. Regarding the comparison between groups, results showed that there was statistically significant improvement on BDI - in the experimental but not in the control group. This research confirmed well known fact regarding running workout – that it significantly improves mental health, in this case the health of police officers. This experimental study shows that running workout should be systematically offered to officers as effective mental health improvement tool.

police ; mental health ; depression ; anxiety ; running ; exercise

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