WORK AND MENTAL HEALTH OF POLICE OFFICERS: A SCOPING REVIEW

Abstract

Police work involves organizational, emotional, cognitive, and traumatic demands that may affect officers’ mental health. This study aimed to analyze work-related factors and their repercussions on police officers’ mental health through a scoping review.  Following the recommendations of the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR), searches were conducted in SciELO, PePSIC, BVS-Psi, Redalyc, and PubMed for empirical articles published between 2016 and 2026 in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. After the eligibility criteria were applied, nine studies were included and examined using Categorical Thematic Analysis. The findings were organized into three categories: 1) Organizational Structure and Work Context; 2) Rigid Disciplinary Regime and Police Performance; and 3) Continuous Exposure to Trauma and Lack of Support. The results indicated that work overload, institutional pressure, working hours and schedules, emotional control demands, high cognitive workload, and repeated exposure to critical incidents are associated with stress, anxiety, emotional exhaustion, burnout, cognitive impairment, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal behavior, and sickness absence. Stigma, fear of professional repercussions, and difficulties in accessing institutional support may also discourage help-seeking. It is concluded that promoting police officers’ mental health requires continuous, accessible, and confidential measures integrated into work organization and the occupational health policies of police institutions.