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Most correctional officers describe their jobs as stressful. The current study advances the scholarship on correctional stress by offering a rare qualitative analysis that identifies, provides meaning, and contextualizes sources of stress in correctional services. This study complements the correctional stress literature, which, until now, has relied primarily on quantitative methodologies to identify and assess stress determinants. Forty-four correctional officers from Canada's federal prisons were interviewed about their primary source of stress. Findings indicate that staff (i.e., co-workers and managers), not prison residents, represent a primary source of stress in correctional work. In addition, job seniority and gossip were the main stress triggers associated with co-workers, while centralization of decision-making processes and a lack of instrumental communication and support triggered stress coming from managers.
RESUMO
Since December 2017, Canada's federal correctional system provides prisoners the opportunity to be assigned to living units according to their self-identified gender. Still organized around sex, conceptually and spatially, prison policies and procedures surrounding transgender prisoners require navigation to adhere to the rights of all prisoners. Based on interviews conducted between October 2019 and October 2021 with 74 correctional officers (COs) from the Canadian federal prison system, we discuss how correctional officers view and operationalize Canada's transgender policy to understand its unintended consequences for both prisoners and prison staff. Unintended consequences revolve around the potential risk for prisoner victimization, prisoner pregnancy, lack of adequate housing, strip search complications, officers' fear of being labeled transphobic, and uncertainty and discretion; all having effects on staff wellness. The policy, although well-intended, may potentially compromise prisoner safety, making correctional work even more stressful.
RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Knowledge about the factors that contribute to the correctional officer's (CO) mental health and well-being, or best practices for improving the mental health and well-being of COs, have been hampered by the dearth of rigorous longitudinal studies. In the current protocol, we share the approach used in the Canadian Correctional Workers' Well-being, Organizations, Roles and Knowledge study (CCWORK), designed to investigate several determinants of health and well-being among COs working in Canada's federal prison system. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: CCWORK is a multiyear longitudinal cohort design (2018-2023, with a 5-year renewal) to study 500 COs working in 43 Canadian federal prisons. We use quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments (ie, surveys, interviews and clinical assessments) to assess participants' mental health, correctional work experiences, correctional training experiences, views and perceptions of prison and prisoners, and career aspirations. Our baseline instruments comprise two surveys, one interview and a clinical assessment, which we administer when participants are still recruits in training. Our follow-up instruments refer to a survey, an interview and a clinical assessment, which are conducted yearly when participants have become COs, that is, in annual 'waves'. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: CCWORK has received approval from the Research Ethics Board of the Memorial University of Newfoundland (File No. 20190481). Participation is voluntary, and we will keep all responses confidential. We will disseminate our research findings through presentations, meetings and publications (e.g., journal articles and reports). Among CCWORK's expected scientific contributions, we highlight a detailed view of the operational, organizational and environmental stressors impacting CO mental health and well-being, and recommendations to prison administrators for improving CO well-being.