Lillis Marie-Louise Elisabeth Rabbing

• Rabbing, Lillis Marie-Louise Elisabeth; Lau, Bjørn; Fostervold, Knut Inge; Blenkinsopp, John & Bjørkelo, Brita (2023). Enhancing self-reported assessment of working conditions in policing: Revisiting the psychometric properties and applications of the police stress questionnaire. Psychological Reports. ISSN 0033-2941. p. 1–19. doi: 10.1177/00332941231207957. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Objectives Policing is recognized as a highly stressful occupation, encompassing stressors not commonly encountered in other fields. In response, police-specific stress scales have been developed and used when studying police work. Despite changes in the composition of police personnel, most studies examining police working conditions focus on sworn police officers (SPO), excluding employees without police education (EWPE). To advance research and practice on stress in the police, align results, and increase the possibilities for comparisons across studies using police-specific measures (PSMs) we conducted a psychometric evaluation of the two scales in the Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ). We examined whether adding “Not Applicable” to the response scales would reduce vulnerability and make the PSQ more robust. Method Based on a survey with a randomised sample (N = 560) of SPO and EWPE in the Norwegian Police, we tested the original factor structures of the PSQ through Confirmatory Factor Analysis including tests of factor structures from previous studies. Results For all models, the indicators of fit indicated a poor fit with either our whole or stratified sample. The response choice ‘Not Applicable’ provided extended information for SPOs and EWPEs on the PSQ. Conclusions To promote aligning results and enabling comparisons across studies using the PSQ, we suggest treating the PSQ scales as formative indexes, rather than reflective scales. Adding “Not Applicable” to the response scale offers an influential elaboration of the PSQ with beneficial and extended information. Generalised studies of stress in the police should include the entire population working there.

• Rabbing, Lillis; Bjørkelo, Brita & Langvik, Eva (2022). Upper and lower musculoskeletal back pain, stress, physical activity, and organisational work support: An exploratory study of police investigative interviewers. Health Psychology Open (HPO). 9(2). doi: 10.1177/20551029221146396. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Police investigative interviewers in special victims’ units have particularly stressing work conditions. Being few in numbers, with highly specialised competence, the health and well-being of this workgroup are key. This study explores the prevalence of muscular lower and upper back pain and stress and associations with physical activity and organisational work support among 77 police investigators. The police investigative interviewers reported high levels of physical activity. Compared to other police employees, they reported similar levels of musculoskeletal back pain, higher levels of upper back pain, and higher levels of stress. Physical activity was not related to musculoskeletal back pain. In the regression analysis, musculoskeletal back pain was negatively associated with organisational work support. Limitations due to low statistical power and a cross-sectional design apply. However, the study provides interesting insight into the prevalence of musculoskeletal back pain and its association with organisational work support and stress among police employees.

• Rabbing, Lillis; Bjørkelo, Brita; Fostervold, Knut Inge; Strømme, Hilde & Lau, Bjørn (2022). A Scoping review of stress measurements and psychometry in police research. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. ISSN 0882-0783. doi: 10.1007/s11896-022-09498-7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Despite a growing body of research, there is no systematic body of evidence that establishes the rigour of existing measures of stress among police. The aim of this scoping review was to investigate (1) the diversity of stress measures used in police research and (2) the psychometric properties of such measures and the ways in which they are utilised. The systematic literature search discovered 16,216 records, which were reduced to 442 records of relevance. A total of 20 qualitative and 422 quantitative studies were found to be relevant, including a total of 129 unique measures, of which the majority showed satisfactory reliability (Cronbach’s alpha≥0.80). The identifed measures pertain to four main categories: police-specifc, perceived stress, psychological and physiological outcomes (including mood and afect changes), and assessment batteries. The measures have a general tendency to emphasise illness, and police-specifc stressors pertain mostly to traditional police work. Measures should be chosen based on the aspect of the stress phenomenon that is to be investigated. This study provides detailed recommendations concerning how to use these measures to advance research concerning stress among police.

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• Rabbing, Lillis Marie-Louise Elisabeth; Bjørkelo, Brita & Langvik, Eva (2024). The role of physical activity in musculoskeletal pain conditions among police employees: methodological considerations. Full text in Research Archive
• Rabbing, Lillis Marie-Louise Elisabeth; Lau, Bjørn; Fostervold, Knut Inge; Blenkinsopp, John & Bjørkelo, Brita (2023). Challenging and Demanding Work: A Study into Stress in the Police. Full text in Research Archive
• Rabbing, Lillis Marie-Louise Elisabeth; Lau, Bjørn; Fostervold, Knut Inge; Blenkinsopp, John & Bjørkelo, Brita (2023). Modern Policing and the Use of Police-Specific Measurements of Perceived Stress – Do We Get More Knowledge? Full text in Research Archive
• Rabbing, Lillis; Bjørkelo, Brita; Fostervold, Knut Inge; Strømme, Hilde & Lau, Bjørn (2021). Stress in the police: Measurements and psychometric properties. Full text in Research Archive
• Rabbing, Lillis & Bjørkelo, Brita (2020). Police stress studies around the world – measurements that work. Full text in Research Archive
• Rabbing, Lillis; Lau, Bjørn; Bjørkelo, Brita & Fostervold, Knut Inge (2019). Norwegian Police Service Employee Study. Full text in Research Archive
• Sørli, Vanja Lundgren; Rabbing, Lillis & Trædal, Torkjell (2019). Direktorater ønsker selv å fylle leder­posisjonene ved en ny justishøgskole: — Oppsiktsvekkende, sier tillitsvalgt. [Internet]. Khrono. Full text in Research Archive
• Rabbing, Lillis & Bjørkelo, Brita (2019). Challenging and Demanding Work: Operative and Organisational Work Demands and Individual and Organisational Resources as Predictors of Health and Work Engagement in the Norwegian Police Service. Full text in Research Archive
• Rabbing, Lillis Marie-Louise Elisabeth; Lau, Bjørn; Bjørkelo, Brita & Fostervold, Knut Inge (2026). Stress in the Police: Concepts and Measures. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Policing is widely recognised as one of the world’s most stressful occupations. Extensive research has examined the impact of organisational and operational stressors on police employees. Although this literature, largely focused on sworn officers, consistently identifies organisational stressors as particularly burdensome, the field remains dominated by studies of operational tasks. Comprehensive reforms aimed at addressing the increasingly complex criminality have underscored the need for specialised professionals. Civilians from diverse professional backgrounds are now recruited to perform roles previously reserved for sworn officers, introducing new stressors that remain largely unaddressed. Moreover, the field offers limited insight into stress as a broader phenomenon, due to inconsistent definitions, limited theoretical guidance, and substantial variability in methodology and measurement tools. This dissertation adopts a structured conceptualisation of stress grounded in two main perspectives: stimulus–response and cognitive appraisal, each with distinct methodological implications. In this dissertation, these perspectives are positioned at opposite ends of a continuum. Stimulus–response models understand stressors as objective conditions that elicit physiological, psychological, or behavioural responses. Cognitive appraisal models, in contrast, view stress as arising from individuals’ interpretations of internal or external demands, shaped by perceived coping capacity. Stress models are located along this continuum according to their theoretical proximity, making explicit the assumptions embedded in different measurement strategies and their analytical consequences. Across three empirical articles, the dissertation examines how stress is conceptualised and measured in policing, and how methodological choices affect the credibility, coherence, and interpretability of empirical findings. The first study maps and summarises instruments used to assess stress in police populations internationally. The second study, focusing on investigative interviewers, demonstrates the utility of a single item, appraisal-based stress measure and provides an empirical example of an alternative to more commonly used stimulus–response approaches. The third study analyses how the widely used Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ) has been applied differently across studies. Collectively, the findings underscore that valid and reliable instruments yield meaningful results only when embedded in methodological frameworks consistent with their theoretical foundations. Few police-specific measurement instruments currently in use are updated to address emerging stressors. Closer alignment among theory, measurement, and analysis can promote more coherent and practice-oriented knowledge about stress in contemporary police work. The dissertation highlights the importance of context sensitive operationalisations and explicit specification of causal relationships between constructs and indicators. By systematically aligning theoretical positioning with measurement and analytical strategies, this work offers a foundation for more coherent, theoretically informed, and contextually relevant research on stress in contemporary policing.

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