Police Officers Are in Burnout Syndrome? : An Applied Research in Nazilli Police Organization

The aim of this study is to give general information about the history of Turkish National Police Organization and to measure police officers’ burnout level by an empirical research in Nazilli Police Organization. In this context, the study includes two parts. The first part examines the history and organization structure of Turkish National Police Organization. The second part includes a research measuring burnout level of police officers working in Nazilli Police Organization. The research (questionnaire) is designed so as to test the following alternative hypotheses: H1: There are differences between police officers’ service unit (narcotic, terror, traffic etc.) and burnout level. H2: There are differences between police officers’ sexuality and burnout level. H3: There are differences between police officers’ vocational experience and burnout level. H4: There are differences between police officers’ marital status and burnout level. H5: There are differences between police officers’ vocational status and burnout level. H6: There are differences between police officers’ educational level and burnout level. Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is used to measure police officers’ burnout level in the study. Maslach Burnout Inventory scale is composed of three dimensions; emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. In other words, MBI scale is composed of 22 items; 9 items for emotional exhaustion, 5 items for depersonalization and 8 items for personal accomplishment. The instrument consisted of these 22 (items) questions are answered on a 1-5 likert scales labeled “strongly disagree” (1) and “strongly agree” (5). Additionally, our research questionnaire includes 7 items to determine demographic variables (such as age, sexuality, vocational experience, marital status, service unit, vocational status, education level) of police officers. SPSS 20.0 is used for statistical analysis. T-Test and One Way ANOVA is used to analyze and assess the differences among police officers in terms of their demographic variables. Keywords: Burnout, Police Officers, Emotional Exhaustion