Page No.47-53
Randhir Singh Ranta
Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla
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The police fulfils an essential role in the society and stress potentially reduces
the effectiveness of the personnel. The stressed police officers pose a threat to
themselves, their colleagues, offenders and/or to public safety and thus it is a
matter of urgent concern for psychologists in particular and mental health
researchers in general. There are endeavors to reduce, eliminate or modify stress
among police personnel using psychological techniques based on the western
model. The present study is unique as it uses stress management and stress
coping techniques based on Indian psychological models. The multidimensional
psychological interventions used in this study were chosen on the basis of
indigenous psychological viewpoints embedded in Yoga and meditational
techniques. The volunteers chosen from different ranks of police personnel (e.g.
constables, head constables, assistant sub-inspectors and inspectors) to reduce
their stress using a control group technique. In order to assess the efficacy of
these multidimensional psychological interventions, scores on stress and coping
were taken prior to and after the intervention (pretest and posttest design).
Repeated measures analysis of variance was applied to compare the experimental
and control groups. It was found that the multidimensional psychological
interventions were significant in reducing job stress, and they enhanced the
coping behavior of subjects. The study highlights the role of stress management
techniques developed from Indian psychology theory.
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