Wearable Technology: A Wellbeing Option for Serving Police Officers and Staff? A Comparison of Results of a Pilot Study with Firearms Officers and a Group of Mixed Officers and Staff

Abstract

The high-stress nature of policing contributes to deterioration of officer health and wellbeing as well as high levels of absenteeism and attrition. Wearable technology (WT) has been identified as a potential tool that can help in improving officer health and wellbeing. This pilot study aimed to give initial insight into acceptability and engagement with WT amongst officers. The study also aimed to uncover any notable areas for exploration in future research within the domain of officer health and wellbeing. Two groups were observed, firearms officers and a mixed group of officers. Participants wore the WT for an extended period, completed a variety of health and wellbeing questionnaires and discussed their experience in focus groups. Firearms officers and mixed group officers displayed similar sleep efficiency, but firearms officers have worse sleep consistency and sleep performance. Firearms officers appear to have higher HRV and a slightly lower resting heart rate. Both groups display reasonable acceptance of the use of WT, speaking favorably during the focus groups of how monitoring the data had improved their quality of life in terms of their understanding of sleep, wellbeing and how they had consequently completed lifestyle modification. WT offers some promise in managing officer health and wellbeing; studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm this.