Die rol van geharde en verdedigingsmeganismes in uitbranding onder lede van die Suid-Afrikaanse Polisiediens

English: Policing is universally seen as a stressful, demanding occupation with the occurrence of potentially violent and life threatening situations. This situation can clearly be identified in the South African context, due to the violent culture and shortage of means within the police service. South African police officers are constantly confronted with high levels of crime, transformation and a shortage of means. A high occurrence of work stress, post traumatic stress syndrome, burnout, the misuse of alcohol, suicide, as well as low levels of work satisfaction and work performance is common among police officers. International as well as South African research have shown that untreated stress in some individuals can lead to burnout, a condition that is seen as a health threat in many service rendering and people orientated occupations. In spite of this fact some police officers succeed in maintaining their psychological wellbeing. The concepts of hardiness and defence mechanisms are explored as protective factors against burnout, under the meta-theoretical framework of positive psychology. The aim of this research is to determine the occurrence of burnout among police members in high risk units, as well as to determine the role of hardiness and defence mechanisms. The research group consisted of 365 members of the police service from high risk units in the Free State Province, with an average age of 38.5 years. Specific sampling was used to include participants. Most of the participants were male (74.5%), married (64.9%) and on the level of inspector (49.9%). In addition to the biographical questionnaire that gave information about race, gender, mother tongue, age, marital status and the unit in which members work, three additional questionnaires were used. Burnout was measured by means of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Hardiness was measured with the Dispositional Resilience Scale – Hardiness, and defence mechanisms with the Defence Style Inventory. Descriptive statistics and alpha coefficients were calculated for all scales and subscales. Systematic regression analysing was performed to investigate the formulated research hypothesis. The results show that more than a third (37.3%) of participants experience high levels of depersonalisation. It is also seen that captains and inspectors experience higher levels of burn out, whilst the diving unit experience high levels of depersonalisation. Higher levels of burn out were also found in divorced individuals and those that are separated by bed and table. It seems that the burn out component of depersonalisation plays a large role in the general level of burn out in the participants. A specific correlation was found between emotional burn out and the use of unhealthy defence mechanisms. The hardiness component of commitment was present in all the scales of burn out (emotional drainage, depersonalisation, as well as personal achievement). There is also a correlation between control and personal achievement. In the light of some of the results the recommendation can be made that a higher level of hardiness and the use of maladaptive defence mechanisms must be included in the selection of high risk unit members. These founding’s can be used for the development and implementation of prevention – and intervention programs within the South African police service.