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- Bjärsholm, Daniel, et al.
(author)
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A longitudinal study on exercise habits and mental health among Swedish police students
- 2023
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- IntroductionIn Sweden, police education should promote students’ physical activity and mental health. According to national goals, police students should be provided with sufficient conditions to develop and maintain advantageous exercise habits and tools to handle various mentally and physically demanding tasks. The national goals also state that students’ physical fitness must be better at graduation than what the requirements are for admission (see Krugly et al., 2022). Although the improvement of students’ physical fitness and mental health are national goals, there is a general lack of knowledge regarding: 1) police students physical and mental health, especially from a Swedish perspective; and 2) how well police education promotes students’ level of physical activity during education. Against this background, the aim is to explore police students’ mental health and level of physical activity during police education in Sweden.MethodsThe data derives from the largest project in Sweden on police students’ physical and mental health, and consists of longitudinal data on police students answers of a self-rated questionnaire about exercise habits and mental health (N = 785). The data used in this study was gathered between 2019–2021, and consisted of four data collection points, from two police educations in Sweden. The analysis was conducted in two steps. First, exploratory- and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to create scales for mental health orientation. Second, these scales, together with the variable exercise habits, were used as outcome variables in t-tests, X2 test and ANOVA. Effect size measurements were calculated and interpreted based on established guidelines.ResultsThe results show high psychometric support for two scales named positive health orientation and negative health orientation. Based on the scales and the variable of exercise habits, three primarily results emerge: 1) the levels of physical training for men decrease during education; 2) there are gender differences showing that women have a more negative health orientation; and, 3) the positive mental health orientation decreases during education for both men and women.DiscussionSwedish police education should prepare students for physically and mentally demanding work. However, as this study concludes, this tends to not be the case, especially given that both the level of physical activity and the positive mental health orientation decrease during education. This raises questions on whether the Swedish police education is doing “enough” to provide the students with adequate conditions for improving their mental and physical health.Krugly, S., Bjärsholm, D., Jansson, A., Rosendal Hansen, A., Hansson, O., Brehm, K., Datmo, A., Hafsteinsson Östenberg, A., & Vikman, J. (2022). A retrospective study of physical fitness and mental health among police students in Sweden. The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles. doi.org/10.1177/0032258X221089576
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| 2. |
- Jansson, Alexander, et al.
(author)
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Mental health and exercise habits among police students in Sweden : a three-year retrospective study
- 2023
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In: Abstracts from the First European Conference on Law Enforcement and Public Health, Umeå 2023. - : Enheten för polisutbildning, Umeåuniversitet. - 9789180701099
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Working as a police officer involves mentally and physically demanding tasks. During the Swedish police education, students should be provided with sufficient conditions to develop and maintain advantageous exercise habits and tools to handle mentally and physically demanding tasks (see Krugly et al., 2022). However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding Swedish police students exercise habits and overall mental- and physical health.The aim is to explore police students’ mental health and physical activity levels during police education in Sweden.The data consisted of police students answers of a self-rated questionnaire about their physical and mental health. The data used in this study was gathered between 2019–2021, and consist of four data collection points, from two police educations in Sweden. The analysis was conducted in two steps. First, exploratory- and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to create scales for health orientation. Second, these scales were used as outcome variables in t-tests, X2 test and ANOVA. Effect size measurements (Cohens, d, Crames V and Phi) were calculated and interpreted based on well establish guidelines.Two scales were developed (i.e. positive health orientation and negative health orientation), and both showed high psychometric support. Based on the scales, two primarily results emerged: 1) results showed that women had a more negative health orientation in general and that positive health orientation, for both genders, decreased between semesters one to four; and 2) more women conducted two hours (or more) per week of physical exercise. Moreover, physical training among men decreased continuously during their education.Conclusions and ImplicationsBased on the results, this study questions whether police education in Sweden doing enough to prepare students for a mentally and physically demanding profession.
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| 3. |
- Jansson, Alexander, et al.
(author)
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Mental health and exercise habits among police students in Sweden : A three-year retrospective study
- 2023
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In: The Police Journal. - : Sage Publications. - 0032-258X .- 1740-5599.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study aims to explore police students’ self-rated mental health and physical activity levels and the relationship between them. Based on longitudinal and cross-sectional data (N = 722), two scales on mental health orientation were developed. The scales and levels of physical activity were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, and X2. During police education, (1) the level of physical activity decreases for men, (2) there is a decline in positive health orientation for both sexes, and (3) women report a more negative health orientation. This raises questions regarding whether “enough” is done to provide police students with sufficient conditions for improving their health.
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| 4. |
- Jansson, Alexander, et al.
(author)
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Mental health and exercise habits among police students in Sweden : A three-year retrospective study
- 2023
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In: The Police Journal. - : Sage Publications. - 0032-258X .- 1740-5599. ; , s. 1-16
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study aims to explore police students’ self-rated mental health and physical activity levels and the relationship between them. Based on longitudinal and cross-sectional data (N = 722), two scales on mental health orientation were developed. The scales and levels of physical activity were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, and X2. During police education, (1) the level of physical activity decreases for men, (2) there is a decline in positive health orientation for both sexes, and (3) women report a more negative health orientation. This raises questions regarding whether “enough” is done to provide police students with sufficient conditions for improving their health.
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| 5. |
- Jansson, Alexander, et al.
(author)
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Träningsråd till dig som ska genomföra tester av fysisk förmåga på Plikt- och prövningsverket
- 2023
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- På Plikt- och prövningsverket genomförs flera olika tester. När det kommer till att testa de prövandes fysiska förmåga används bland annat ett konditionstest på cykel och ett isokinetiskt styrketest som kallas Isokai. I den här texten ges information om testerna, grundläggande träningsråd för att klara dessa samt råd inför fortsatt träning. Råden är uppdelade i två delar. I den första delen beskrivs träningsråd för styrketräning och i den andra för konditionsträning.
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| 6. |
- Krugly, Sandra, et al.
(author)
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A retrospective study of physical fitness and mental health among police students in Sweden
- 2023
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In: The Police Journal. - : Sage Publications. - 0032-258X .- 1740-5599. ; 96:3, s. 430-450
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Little is known about the physical and mental health among police students. Based on data on Swedish police students’ physical fitness (N = 1736) and mental health (N = 407), the results show that: (a) there are gender differences; (b) the physical fitness changes during police education; in general, the students get stronger but less flexible, and the aerobic endurance increases for women but decreases for men; and (c) students’ self-reported physical activity and mental health affect their perceived police ability differently in re- lation to gender. Consequently, this study questions if the Swedish police education is preparing the students adequately for their future profession.
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