Shift Working and Well-being: A Physiological and Psychological Analysis of Shift Workers

Shift work is defined as “nonstandard schedules requiring that at least 50 % of the work be done at a time other than between 8 am and 4 pm ” (Jaffe & Smolensky, 1996). An estimated 25 % of people now work night shifts in most Western societies (Hossain & Shapiro, 1999), despite the growing concern over the detrimental effects that may result for individual shift workers. The current study was designed to examine the association between shift work and physical and psychological well-being of police officers. It is hypothesized that police officers who work 3rd shift (i.e. 11 pm to 7 am), will have more depressive symptoms, suffer from sleep deprivation and suffer from more health problems than 1st shift workers (i.e. 7 am to 3 pm). The participants consisted of thirty-three male and female shift working police officers of various background and ages from a Wisconsin police department. The Standard Shiftwork Index (SSI) was used to test physical and psychological aspects of shift work on well-being of shift workers. The results of the study found that 2nd shift police officers received less sleep than they thought they actually needed. 2nd shift police officers were also found to have lower well-being than 3rd shift police officers