Exploring organizational risk factors for health & wellness problems in correctional officers

IF 1.9 Q3 OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

CRIMINAL JUSTICE STUDIES Pub Date : 2021-10-02 DOI:10.1080/1478601X.2021.1999115

Logan Lavender, N. Todak

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引用次数: 3

Abstract

ABSTRACT Previous research has documented high rates of stress, PTSD, and other health and wellness problems in U.S. correctional officers (COs). In some studies, rates of mental health issues among COs surpassed those observed in combat-experienced veteran and police officer samples. Unfortunately, this crisis has not received much empirical attention. Drawing on a survey of COs working in Washington state (N = 420), we test whether facility and shift variables are related to CO stress, PTSD, and quality of life across four domains: physical health, mental health, social relationships, and physical environment. Few organizational factors were significantly related to health and wellness problems in COs. However, PTSD and stress levels were much higher in our sample than has been reported in past studies (e.g. 27% of our sample met the criteria for diagnosable PTSD). Thus, we find that the mental health crisis among COs is both worsening and unaffected by organizational variables like shift, weekly hours, and facility type. Additional research investigating this crisis is needed.

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探讨惩教人员健康和健康问题的组织风险因素

先前的研究表明，美国狱警(COs)中压力、创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)和其他健康和保健问题的发生率很高。在一些研究中，狱警的心理健康问题比率超过了在有战斗经验的老兵和警察样本中观察到的比率。不幸的是，这场危机并没有得到太多实证关注。根据对华盛顿州CO工作人员(N = 420)的调查，我们测试了设施和轮班变量是否与CO压力、创伤后应激障碍和生活质量有关，涉及四个领域:身体健康、心理健康、社会关系和物理环境。很少有组织因素与COs的健康和保健问题显著相关。然而，在我们的样本中，创伤后应激障碍和压力水平比过去的研究报告要高得多(例如，27%的样本符合可诊断的创伤后应激障碍的标准)。因此，我们发现狱警的心理健康危机不仅恶化，而且不受轮班、每周工作时间和设施类型等组织变量的影响。需要对这一危机进行进一步的研究。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

CRIMINAL JUSTICE STUDIES OPERATIONS RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT SCIENCE-

CiteScore

2.80

自引率

5.60%

发文量

期刊介绍： Criminal Justice Studies, a quarterly refereed journal, publishes articles that deal with substantive criminal justice and criminological issues. The journal welcomes all articles that are relevant to the issue of criminal justice, as well as those that may be outside the field but have relevancy to the topic of criminal justice. Articles that cover public administration, issues of public policy, as well as public affairs issues are welcome. The journal also publishes relevant literature reviews, research notes and summary reports of innovative research projects in criminal justice. Qualitative and quantifiable articles are sought mainly from academics and researchers in the field, though articles from professionals will also be considered.