A Loss Cycle of Burnout Symptoms and Reduced Coping Self-Efficacy: A Latent Change Score Modelling Approach

Police officers are frequently faced with chronic and acute stressors, such as excessive workload, organizational stressors and emotionally charged reports. This study aims to examine the relationship between a form of chronic strain (ie, burnout symptoms) and a resource (ie, coping self-efficacy) in a sample of Dutch police officers. Specifically, we aim to investigate the existence of a loss cycle of resources. We use Latent Change Score modeling to investigate the potential depletion or loss cycle of coping self-efficacy as a result of burnout symptoms in a sample of 95 police officers who completed a survey on three consecutive timepoints. The lag between the measurements was approximately one year. We found that, during both one-year intervals, within-person increases in burnout symptoms were related to within-person decreases in coping self-efficacy. Also, the results emphasize the buffering role of coping self-efficacy for burnout symptoms, as within-person decreases in coping self-efficacy during the first year were associated with within-person increases in burnout symptoms during the following year. Together, the results imply that a loss cycle of coping self-efficacy and burnout symptoms may occur. For this we used Latent Change Score modeling, which is a relatively new approach which provides researchers with the opportunity to analyse multi-wave longitudinal data while focusing on within-person changes over time. Practically, police organizations are advised to monitor personnel wellbeing and resources, to maintain and promote sustainable employability of police officers and to be able to timely provide individuals with interventions. Limitations discussed are the use of self-report measures and large intervals between the measurements. Finally, future directions of research are discussed that would circumvent the reported limitations, such as multiple wave with shorter lags and incorporating confounding factors that could affect coping self-efficacy.