The use and effectiveness of Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) to improve the health and wellbeing of Police staff: A systematic review

Objective: Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) can have a beneficial impact on health and wellbeing. This review aimed to assess the effectiveness of using PPIs, such as practicing positive mantras, expressive writing, or gratitude diaries, to improve the psychological wellbeing, health, and/or health behaviours of a specific population: police employees.
Method: A review protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42019159626). Sixteen electronic databases were searched from the period between January 1999- February 2021. Studies that offered Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) to improve either the physical health (e.g. weight, blood pressure), health behaviours (physical activity, sitting, diet, alcohol, or tobacco use) or psychological wellbeing (stress, anxiety, depression, mood) were included. The MMAT assessment tool was used to assess the risk of bias.
Results: The search yielded 4393 results; 3239 papers remained after duplicates were removed, of these 121 studies were included in the final review. Intervention types included mindfulness-based resilience training (n=8), role-play and scenario-based interventions (n=2) and expressive writing (n=1) and self-reflection based intervention (n=1). Included studies showed improvements in perceived and occupational stress, anxiety, negative affect, quality of life, alcohol use and sleep quality in police employees.
Conclusion: Evidence here confirmed that PPIs can improve short-term psychological wellbeing in police employees, particularly stress, anxiety and negative mood, while evidence for improvements in depression were inconsistent. Positive Psychology Interventions could offer a low-cost approach to supporting psychological wellbeing in police employees, however, more high quality research is needed, particularly in interventions which may produce long term change.