The development and psychometric properties of the Prison Fellowship-Well-being Index (PF WBI).

Purpose: This paper aims to describe the development and validation of the Prison Fellowship Well-being index (PF-WBI), a new quantitative tool for assessing prisoner and staff well-being within prison cultures.

Design/methodology/approach: The PF-WBI was developed through an iterative process of item creation, administration alongside established well-being measures and a series of data analyses. Data was collected from both staff and prisoners (n = 989) across four North Dakota prisons.

Findings: Analysis supported a four-factor structure for the PF-WBI measuring motivation/self-esteem, relationships/community functioning, hope/mood and stress-related detriments. The PF-WBI demonstrated excellent internal consistency reliability, convergent validity with established well-being measures and criterion-related validity for both staff and prisoners. Measurement invariance across staff and prisoners was also confirmed.

Originality/value: The PF-WBI offers a new and versatile tool for researchers and practitioners to assess staff and prisoner well-being in correctional settings. It can be used to evaluate prison cultures and the effectiveness of culture improvement efforts.