IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i10p5904-d814346.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Suicide Trends in the Italian State Police during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A Comparison with the Pre-Pandemic Period

Author

Listed:
  • Silvana Maselli

    (State Police Health Service Department, Ministry of the Interior, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Antonio del Casale

    (Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Elena Paoli

    (State Police Health Service Department, Ministry of the Interior, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Maurizio Pompili

    (Department of Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs (NESMOS), Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00189 Rome, Italy)

  • Sergio Garbarino

    (State Police Health Service Department, Ministry of the Interior, 00185 Rome, Italy
    Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics and Maternal/Child Sciences (DINOGMI), University of Genoa, 16132 Genoa, Italy)

Abstract

The pandemic is posing an occupational stressor for law enforcement personnel. Therefore, a high priority is the need to quantify this phenomenon and put supportive programs in place. During the pandemic period, the Italian State Police implemented different support programs for the personnel. These included a national toll-free number to provide information on COVID-19 to police staff, availability of a health care service by doctors and nurses at the national level, vaccination services, working remotely, and a psychological intervention protocol called “Together we can” (“Insieme Possiamo”). Our study firstly aims to perform a descriptive analysis of the suicide in the Italian police from 2016 to 2021, and secondly aims to compare the pandemic and pre-pandemic periods. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (February 2020 to October 2021), the suicide rate in the State Police did not significantly increase compared to the pre-pandemic period, showing a stable trend with a not significant decrease in the suicide rate. The implementation of staff support services by the Central Directorate of Health of the Italian State Police and individual resilience aspects of the Police personnel in response to the pandemic may have positively affected the phenomenon. These aspects pave the way to further studies on the issue to improve preventive strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Silvana Maselli & Antonio del Casale & Elena Paoli & Maurizio Pompili & Sergio Garbarino, 2022. "Suicide Trends in the Italian State Police during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A Comparison with the Pre-Pandemic Period," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-10, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:10:p:5904-:d:814346
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/10/5904/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/10/5904/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniela Acquadro Maran & Massimo Zedda & Antonella Varetto, 2018. "Organizational and Occupational Stressors, Their Consequences and Coping Strategies: A Questionnaire Survey among Italian Patrol Police Officers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, January.
    2. Frenkel, Marie Ottilie & Giessing, Laura & Egger-Lampl, Sebastian & Hutter, Vana & Oudejans, Raoul R.D. & Kleygrewe, Lisanne & Jaspaert, Emma & Plessner, Henning, 2021. "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on European police officers: Stress, demands, and coping resources," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Nicola Magnavita & Francesco Chirico & Sergio Garbarino & Nicola Luigi Bragazzi & Emiliano Santacroce & Salvatore Zaffina, 2021. "SARS/MERS/SARS-CoV-2 Outbreaks and Burnout Syndrome among Healthcare Workers. An Umbrella Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-13, April.
    4. Silke Bachmann, 2018. "Epidemiology of Suicide and the Psychiatric Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ching Kwan & Clifford Wong & Zhansheng Chen & Paul S. F. Yip, 2022. "Youth Bullying and Suicide: Risk and Protective Factor Profiles for Bullies, Victims, Bully-Victims and the Uninvolved," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Marcos Vinicius de Carvalho Mendes & Solange Laurentino dos Santos & Claudia Cristina Lima de Castro & Betise Mery Alencar Sousa Macau Furtado & Heitor Victor Veiga da Costa & Albanita Gomes da Costa , 2021. "Analysis of Factors Associated with the Risk of Suicide in a Brazilian Capital: Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Nashit Chowdhury & Ankit Kainth & Atobrhan Godlu & Honey Abigail Farinas & Saif Sikdar & Tanvir C. Turin, 2022. "Mental Health and Well-Being Needs among Non-Health Essential Workers during Recent Epidemics and Pandemics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-30, May.
    4. Supa Pengpid & Karl Peltzer, 2024. "Prevalence and correlates of psychological distress among national community-based adult populations in Nauru, Tukelau and Tuvalu," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 70(3), pages 437-444, May.
    5. Nicola Magnavita & Paolo Maurizio Soave & Massimo Antonelli, 2021. "Prolonged Stress Causes Depression in Frontline Workers Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study in a COVID-19 Hub-Hospital in Central Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-13, July.
    6. Bauer, Annette & Knapp, Martin & Alvi, Mohsin & Chaudhry, Nasim & Gregoire, Alain & Malik, Abid & Sikander, Siham & Tayyaba, Kiran & Wagas, Ahmed & Husain, Nusrat, 2024. "Economic costs of perinatal depression and anxiety in a lower-middle income country: Pakistan," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122650, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Reparata Rosa Di Prinzio & Giorgia Bondanini & Federica De Falco & Maria Rosaria Vinci & Vincenzo Camisa & Annapaola Santoro & Marcello De Santis & Massimiliano Raponi & Guendalina Dalmasso & Salvator, 2022. "The Management of Workplace Violence against Healthcare Workers: A Multidisciplinary Team for Total Worker Health ® Approach in a Hospital," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Maria Rosaria Gualano & Tiziana Sinigaglia & Giuseppina Lo Moro & Stefano Rousset & Agnese Cremona & Fabrizio Bert & Roberta Siliquini, 2021. "The Burden of Burnout among Healthcare Professionals of Intensive Care Units and Emergency Departments during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-17, August.
    9. Ferdinando Toscano & Francesco Tommasi & Davide Giusino, 2022. "Burnout in Intensive Care Nurses during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review on Its Prevalence and Risk and Protective Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-16, October.
    10. Dorota Lasota & Dagmara Mirowska-Guzel & Krzysztof Goniewicz, 2021. "Analysis of Suicide Methods and Substances Influencing the State of Consciousness of Their Victims in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-12, May.
    11. Nicola Magnavita & Paolo Maurizio Soave & Massimo Antonelli, 2021. "A One-Year Prospective Study of Work-Related Mental Health in the Intensivists of a COVID-19 Hub Hospital," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-12, September.
    12. Lucia Jerg-Bretzke & Maximilian Kempf & Marc Nicolas Jarczok & Katja Weimer & Christian Hirning & Harald Gündel & Yesim Erim & Eva Morawa & Franziska Geiser & Nina Hiebel & Kerstin Weidner & Christian, 2021. "Psychosocial Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Healthcare Workers and Initial Areas of Action for Intervention and Prevention—The egePan/VOICE Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-16, October.
    13. Mantji Juliah Modula & Ellen Mokgobola Mathapo-Thobakgale & Champion N. Nyoni & Ronelle Jansen, 2024. "Strategies for Coping with Occupational Trauma: A Scoping Review of the Police Officer Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(7), pages 1-14, July.
    14. David Lucas & Sandrine Brient & Tanguy Le Grand & Jean-Dominique Dewitte & Brice Loddé & Richard Pougnet & Bisi Moriamo Eveillard, 2022. "Evolution of Global Health and Psychosocial Factors among Hospital Workers during First Year of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-11, November.
    15. Roee Sarel, 2022. "Crime and punishment in times of pandemics," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 155-186, October.
    16. Ascensión Fumero & Rosario J. Marrero & Alicia Pérez-Albéniz & Eduardo Fonseca-Pedrero, 2021. "Adolescents’ Bipolar Experiences and Suicide Risk: Well-being and Mental Health Difficulties as Mediators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-16, March.
    17. Irene Pisnoli & Ruth Van der Hallen, 2022. "Attitudes toward Suicide and the Impact of Client Suicide: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-10, April.
    18. Louise Brådvik, 2018. "Suicide Risk and Mental Disorders," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-4, September.
    19. Ekaterina A. Shashina & Valentina V. Makarova & Denis V. Shcherbakov & Tatiana S. Isiutina-Fedotkova & Nadezhda N. Zabroda & Nina A. Ermakova & Anton Yu. Skopin & Oleg V. Mitrokhin, 2021. "Use of Respiratory Protection Devices by Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-12, May.
    20. Carl B. Roth & Andreas Papassotiropoulos & Annette B. Brühl & Undine E. Lang & Christian G. Huber, 2021. "Psychiatry in the Digital Age: A Blessing or a Curse?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-32, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:10:p:5904-:d:814346. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.