“Brutal murder scenes are traumatising, and they’re mostly indelible”: Occupational stressors and mental health among South African police service murder detectives at a selected station in Durban, South Africa
Occupational stress is rampant across various professions. The process of murder case investigation culminates in a plethora of challenges, including mental health concerns among murder detectives, which can trigger occupational stress. Stress reduces productivity and is detrimental to a worker’s he...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Cogent Social Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2022.2123146 |
| _version_ | 1811261865696690176 |
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| author | Nonhle Sibisi Kemist Shumba Slindile Ngcece Nirmala D. Gopal |
| author_facet | Nonhle Sibisi Kemist Shumba Slindile Ngcece Nirmala D. Gopal |
| author_sort | Nonhle Sibisi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Occupational stress is rampant across various professions. The process of murder case investigation culminates in a plethora of challenges, including mental health concerns among murder detectives, which can trigger occupational stress. Stress reduces productivity and is detrimental to a worker’s health and well-being. This study explored trauma contributing to occupational stress among murder detectives in the South African Police Service. The study adopted a case study design and a qualitative approach within the constructivist paradigm. To generate rich and thick data, participants were purposively selected. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with eight (n = 8) murder detectives and two (n = 2) employees from the SAPS’ Employee, Health, and Well-being Services (EHWS) department. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The sources of stress identified were attributed to the nature of police work, namely long work hours and exposure to traumatic crime scenes. Murder cases involving children and women were among the most emotionally challenging sources of stress. Further, most detectives reported resorting to defensive mechanisms in dealing with trauma. Although most detectives knew EHWS, high workloads were reported to be an insurmountable challenge. The findings have important implications for intervention programmes to improve the mental health and well-being of SAPS murder detectives. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:13:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-64d66783d49f41fdbc4378ce24ab2655 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2331-1886 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:13:34Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cogent Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-64d66783d49f41fdbc4378ce24ab26552022-12-22T03:19:48ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Social Sciences2331-18862022-12-018110.1080/23311886.2022.2123146“Brutal murder scenes are traumatising, and they’re mostly indelible”: Occupational stressors and mental health among South African police service murder detectives at a selected station in Durban, South AfricaNonhle Sibisi0Kemist Shumba1Slindile Ngcece2Nirmala D. Gopal3Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South AfricaDiscipline of Criminology and Forensic Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus, Durban, South AfricaDiscipline of Criminology and Forensic Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus, Durban, South AfricaDiscipline of Criminology and Forensic Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus, Durban, South AfricaOccupational stress is rampant across various professions. The process of murder case investigation culminates in a plethora of challenges, including mental health concerns among murder detectives, which can trigger occupational stress. Stress reduces productivity and is detrimental to a worker’s health and well-being. This study explored trauma contributing to occupational stress among murder detectives in the South African Police Service. The study adopted a case study design and a qualitative approach within the constructivist paradigm. To generate rich and thick data, participants were purposively selected. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with eight (n = 8) murder detectives and two (n = 2) employees from the SAPS’ Employee, Health, and Well-being Services (EHWS) department. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The sources of stress identified were attributed to the nature of police work, namely long work hours and exposure to traumatic crime scenes. Murder cases involving children and women were among the most emotionally challenging sources of stress. Further, most detectives reported resorting to defensive mechanisms in dealing with trauma. Although most detectives knew EHWS, high workloads were reported to be an insurmountable challenge. The findings have important implications for intervention programmes to improve the mental health and well-being of SAPS murder detectives.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2022.2123146traumamurder detectivesdetective servicesstressmental health |
| spellingShingle | Nonhle Sibisi Kemist Shumba Slindile Ngcece Nirmala D. Gopal “Brutal murder scenes are traumatising, and they’re mostly indelible”: Occupational stressors and mental health among South African police service murder detectives at a selected station in Durban, South Africa Cogent Social Sciences trauma murder detectives detective services stress mental health |
| title | “Brutal murder scenes are traumatising, and they’re mostly indelible”: Occupational stressors and mental health among South African police service murder detectives at a selected station in Durban, South Africa |
| title_full | “Brutal murder scenes are traumatising, and they’re mostly indelible”: Occupational stressors and mental health among South African police service murder detectives at a selected station in Durban, South Africa |
| title_fullStr | “Brutal murder scenes are traumatising, and they’re mostly indelible”: Occupational stressors and mental health among South African police service murder detectives at a selected station in Durban, South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Brutal murder scenes are traumatising, and they’re mostly indelible”: Occupational stressors and mental health among South African police service murder detectives at a selected station in Durban, South Africa |
| title_short | “Brutal murder scenes are traumatising, and they’re mostly indelible”: Occupational stressors and mental health among South African police service murder detectives at a selected station in Durban, South Africa |
| title_sort | brutal murder scenes are traumatising and they re mostly indelible occupational stressors and mental health among south african police service murder detectives at a selected station in durban south africa |
| topic | trauma murder detectives detective services stress mental health |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311886.2022.2123146 |
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