Summary
The satisfaction of police officers and their spouses with two 12-hour compressed work week shift schedules and two traditional 8-hour shift schedules was examined. Data were collected from three detachments of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary using structured interview and questionnaire procedures. Additionally, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1987) was used in a follow-up mail survey of spouses to assess the impact of the stress of police work and shift work on the quality of marital adjustment. The instruments were administered from May to September, 1994. In each detachment a number of groups were surveyed: the constables working the 12-hour shifts (N = 122); the shift working supervisors (N = 12); the day working supervisors (N = 7); and the spouses of the constables and supervisors working the 12-hour shifts (N = 77). Comparisons were drawn between the two types of 12-hour shift schedules and between the 12-hour shift schedules and the two 8-hour shift schedules previously worked in the detachments. Comparisons were also drawn between the constables, supervisors, and spouses within the detachments. The data provided support for the major hypothesis of this study: workers and their spouses preferred the 12-hour compressed work week shift schedules over the 8-hour shift schedules. There was no correlation between the composite satisfaction scores of workers and their spouses, implying that the factors which foster satisfaction for a worker are different from those which foster satisfaction for that worker's spouse. Surveyed spouses had, on average, a lower level of adjustment in their marriages than did respondents from previously studied non-police families. The workers reported no change in their quality of sleep or their levels of fatigue after the change to the 12-hour shift schedules. The high preference and satisfaction levels were related to the longer periods of consecutive time off and free weekend time. Overall, the 12-hour compressed work week shift schedule appeared to meet the psychosocial needs of most of the police officers and the spouses surveyed.