Following up on previous work with sleep experts at the University of Surrey, we have teamed up to launch the SAFER 'Sleep Disorders Screening Survey', a short self-paced survey to help you assess your risk of having an undiagnosed sleep disorder. It is open to anyone working within UK policing.
You do not have to work shifts or be in a frontline role to complete the survey, and you do not have to have any problems with sleep or fatigue. The survey will assess your risk of several common sleep disorders as well as excessive sleepiness and burnout. It really is worth spending the time to complete the survey. It only takes a few minutes, and could provide you with some insight into whether you need to seek help with sleep or fatigue.
Introduction
The SAFER 'Sleep Disorders Screening Survey', has been provided by Professor Steven Lockley of the University of Surrey, who has been studying sleep and circadian rhythms for over 30 years.
While working at Harvard Medical School, he and his colleagues implemented similar education and screening programmes for police officers and firefighters and found that over a third of active duty personnel were at risk of at least one sleep disorder, such as sleep apnoea, insomnia or shift work sleep disorder, without knowing it.
In follow-up studies, these programmes resulted in many hundreds of police officers and firefighters seeking treatment for their sleep disorder, helping their long-term health. In one fire department study, the programme led to nearly a 50% reduction in reported long-term disability days and a 24% lower odds of having an accident or injury on duty.
Why are we doing it?
Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) is making this screening survey available in response to the findings from the University of Surrey Sleep Research Centre study on sleep disorder risk in UK police, and the national wellbeing survey which highlighted sleepiness and fatigue as a big area of concern.
We know that those working in policing often experience high levels of sleepiness and fatigue due to long work hours, shift patterns, untreated sleep disorders and stress. This affects workplace performance, increases the risk of accidents and injuries, and impacts your long-term health.
How it works
This is a completely anonymous and confidential self-assessment screening survey for your own purposes. This is not a research study. We do not ask for your name, email, address, police force or other identifying information, and any data from the answers you provide is deleted from our system after 24 hours.
The survey will assess your risk of sleepiness, major sleep disorders and burnout. The answers are provided anonymously, so we will not know who you are.
After completing the questions, if the survey shows that you may be at risk of any of these disorders, then a letter will automatically be generated for each disorder that you can save or print and take to your Occupational Health team for further investigation. If nothing appears for you , you are deemed not to be at high risk at this time.
Please note that this survey does not represent a diagnosis of a particular disorder but offers an indication that you might be at risk and need to seek further consultation from a qualified medical professional.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Professor Steven Lockley of the Surrey Sleep Research Centre, University of Surrey, and Professor Charles Czeisler and Dr Laura Barger and the Harvard Work Hours Health and Safety Group for development of the survey.
References
- Barger LK, Ogeil RP, Drake CL, O'Brien CS, Ng KT, Rajaratnam SM. Validation of a questionnaire to screen for shift work disorder. Sleep. 2012 Dec 1;35(12):1693-703.
- Barger LK, Rajaratnam SM, Wang W, O'Brien CS, Sullivan JP, Qadri S, Lockley SW, Czeisler CA; Harvard Work Hours Health and Safety Group. Common sleep disorders increase risk of motor vehicle crashes and adverse health outcomes in firefighters. J Clin Sleep Med. 2015 Mar 15;11(3):233-40.
- Dolan ED, Mohr D, Lempa M, Joos S, Fihn SD, Nelson KM, Helfrich CD. Using a single item to measure burnout in primary care staff: a psychometric evaluation. J Gen Intern Med. 2015 May;30(5):582-7.
- Johns MW. A new method for measuring daytime sleepiness: the Epworth sleepiness scale. Sleep. 1991 Dec;14(6):540-5.
- Netzer NC, Stoohs RA, Netzer CM, Clark K, Strohl KP. Using the Berlin Questionnaire to identify patients at risk for the sleep apnea syndrome. Ann Intern Med. Oct 5 1999;131(7):485-491.
- Rajaratnam SM, Barger LK, Lockley SW, Shea SA, Wang W, Landrigan CP, O'Brien CS, Qadri S, Sullivan JP, Cade BE, Epstein LJ, White DP, Czeisler CA; Harvard Work Hours, Health and Safety Group. Sleep disorders, health, and safety in police officers. JAMA. 2011 Dec 21;306(23):2567-78.
- Soldatos CR, Dikeos DG, Paparrigopoulos TJ. The diagnostic validity of the Athens Insomnia Scale. J Psychosom Res. Sep 2003;55(3):263-267.
- Sullivan JP, O'Brien CS, Barger LK, Rajaratnam SM, Czeisler CA, Lockley SW; Harvard Work Hours, Health and Safety Group. Randomized, prospective study of the impact of a sleep health program on firefighter injury and disability. Sleep. 2017 Jan 1;40(1):zsw001.