Occupational health promotion among police personnel

Abstract

With increased physical and mental burdens of law enforcement staff in Hungary, occupational health development and recreation programs are of paramount importance. Adverse effects on employees’ health must be prevented by all possible means and existing adverse effects shall be compensated for by planned and conscious occupational health promotion and recreation programs. The Life-Strength-Health Program, nationwide available for the entire staff at the National Police Headquarters, serves this purpose. In this article we present the specific components of existing workplace health promotion programs both by document analysis and opinions of the program’s authors, identified during semi-structured in-depth interviews. The findings show how complex the activities of the units supporting the police personnel are, for example health screenings, regular operational intervention programs, family sports and health days for recreation and a variety of recreational opportunities supporting the effectiveness of police work, staff health and well-being. The diverse components, popularity, and effectiveness of the program may hopefully spark interest at other government agencies to implement recreation and health promotion at work.