Prevalência e fatores associados ao risco para transtorno de estresse pós-traumático em policiais militares do Ceará

Abstract

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is one of the disorders present in populations affected by violence, with military police officers being one of the segments of workers most affected by this phenomenon. Ceará's military police is a secular institution that performs: preventive and security police functions; the internal security activities of the state territory and ostensive uniformed policing, aimed at social protection and defense, the maintenance of law and order, and the prevention and immediate repression of crime; the custody and surveillance of public property and circulation routes; the guarantee of civil society institutions; the defense of public and private goods; the protection and promotion of the well-being of the community and the rights, guarantees and freedoms of the citizen However, studies on the subject are still scarce in Brazil and in the world. We sought to estimate the prevalence of risk/suspicion for PTSD among military police officers in Ceará, as well as: to describe the sociodemographic, work and violence characteristics experienced by military police officers in Ceará and to analyze the association between sociodemographic, work and violence factors experienced when risk for posttraumatic stress disorder among Military Police in Ceará. This is a cross-sectional study, part of the umbrella research project entitled “Experienced violence, health conditions and illness among civil and military police officers in the State of Ceará” at the Federal University of Ceará – UFC. The sample was selected in multiple stages (describe) and was composed of 1838 military police officers throughout the state of Ceará, of both sexes, active in ostensive policing, in effective exercise for more than six months. The survey used a self-administered electronic questionnaire as a data collection instrument, using the Survey Monkey® software, while data analysis was performed using the SPSS® software version 20.0, considering the weights resulting from the sample calculation (battalion and company). There is a high prevalence of PTSD risk in the sample (98.8%), whose predominant criterion was the characterization of negative changes in cognitions and mood associated with the traumatic event starting or worsening after the occurrence of such an event (97.5%). The prevalence of suspected PTSD was higher among women (99.8%), under 30 years old (100%), without a steady partner (99.1%), with higher education (99.2%), who are the main source of income (98.9%) and have a family income of up to 10 minimum wages (99%). There is a high prevalence of PTSD risk among military police officers in Ceará, and there seems to be a strong relationship between PTSD and the situations experienced in public security work with effects on personal, social and work life. Some recommendations were made based on what was observed, such as: Structured actions from the admission and training procedures, to promote the awareness of all hierarchical spheres about the breadth of health, its importance and the institutional impacts due to problems that lack This support can trigger mental health outcomes and the establishment of professional and psychological follow-up programs for the troop.