Sleep quality and mental disorder symptoms among correctional workers in Ontario, Canada.

Correctional workers (CWs) report high levels of work stressors, frequent exposures to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs), and substantial mental health challenges. There is evidence of associations between sleep disturbances and diverse mental health challenges, including preliminary evidence from public safety personnel; however, replications and extensions would better inform interventions to support mental health. The current study was designed to examine associations between quality of sleep, work stress, and mental health disorders in a sample of diverse CWs employed in a provincial correctional service in Ontario, Canada. Data were analyzed from 943 CWs who participated in the cross-sectional, web-based Ontario Provincial Correctional Worker Mental Health and Well-Being Study conducted from December 2017 to June 2018. Sleep quality indicators included symptoms of insomnia, total hours of sleep per night on work nights and off-shift nights, number of days feeling rested per week, and overall sleep quality. Descriptive statistics, analyses of variance, correlational analyses, and logistic regression were used to examine relationships among sleep quality, stress of shift work, and mental health disorder symptoms. CWs slept an average of 6.0 h per night when working and 7.2 h during off-shift nights. CWs reported waking up feeling rested an average of 2.6 days per week and rated their overall quality of sleep in the fair to poor range. Many CWs (64.9%) screened positive for clinically significant symptoms of insomnia. There were also differences across occupational groups such that CWs working as correctional officers reported the most sleep problems. There were statistically significant relationships between insomnia and mental health disorder symptoms. Higher levels of stress from shift work were associated with worse sleep quality. CWs, especially those working as correctional officers in a provincial prison, reported many indicators consistent with poorer quality of sleep. Poor quality of sleep was also associated with work stress and mental health disorders.

Functional disconnection and reconnection: an alternative strategy to stoicism in public safety personnel.

Background: North American public safety personnel (PSP; e.g., police, firefighters, paramedics) training programmes often focus on the importance of controlling emotional reactions (i.e. remaining stoic) to make sound decisions in high-stress environments. Many PSP carry avoidant coping strategies into their personal lives, however, resulting in disrupted relationships and deterioration of well-being. Objective: We argue for an alternative perspective, functional disconnection and functional reconnection (FD/FR), that limits stoicism and avoidant coping in PSP work environments. FD/FR instead suggests that PSP can receive support and training focused on intentional and cognizant changes of the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of their occupational roles; the same intention should be given to supporting reconnection when re-integrating into personal roles following the workday. Conclusion: FD/FR strategies can be incorporated into clinical treatment, existing training programmes and embraced by organizational leadership to facilitate a necessary shift towards prioritizing PSP well-being.

Antecedentes: Los programas de capacitación del personal de seguridad pública de América del Norte (PSP, en sus siglas en inglés; por ejemplo, la policía, los bomberos, los paramédicos) a menudo se centran en la importancia de controlar las reacciones emocionales (es decir, permanecer estoico) para tomar decisiones acertadas en entornos de alto estrés. Sin embargo, muchos PSP llevan a sus vidas personales estrategias de afrontamiento evasivas, lo que da lugar a la interrupción de las relaciones y al deterioro del bienestar.Objetivo: Sostenemos una perspectiva alternativa, la desconexión y reconexión funcional (FD/FR, en sus siglas en inglés), que limite el estoicismo y el afrontamiento evasivo en los entornos de trabajo del PSP. FD/FR sugiere, en cambio, que el PSP puede recibir apoyo y entrenamiento enfocado en cambios intencionales y conscientes de los aspectos físicos, emocionales, mentales y espirituales de sus roles ocupacionales; la misma intención debería darse al apoyo de la reconexión cuando se reintegran a los roles personales después de la jornada laboral.Conclusión: Las estrategias de FD/FR pueden incorporarse al tratamiento clínico, a los programas de formación existentes y ser adoptadas por el liderazgo organizacional para facilitar un cambio necesario hacia la priorización del bienestar del PSP.

Brief Mental Health Disorder Screening Questionnaires and Use with Public Safety Personnel: A Review.

Brief mental health disorder screening questionnaires (SQs) are used by psychiatrists, physicians, researchers, psychologists, and other mental health professionals and may provide an efficient method to guide clinicians to query symptom areas requiring further assessment. For example, annual screening has been used to help identify military personnel who may need help. Nearly half (44.5%) of Canadian public safety personnel (PSP) screen positive for one or more mental health disorder(s); as such, regular mental health screenings for PSP may be a valuable way to support mental health. The following review was conducted to (1) identify existing brief mental health disorder SQs; (2) review empirical evidence of the validity of identified SQs; (3) identify SQs validated within PSP populations; and (4) recommend appropriately validated brief screening questionnaires for five common mental health disorders (i.e., generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), major depressive depression (MDD), panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, alcohol use disorder). After reviewing the psychometric properties of the identified brief screening questionnaires, we recommend the following four brief screening tools for use with PSP: the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (screening for MDD and GAD), the Brief Panic Disorder Symptom Screen-Self-Report, the Short-Form Posttraumatic Checklist-5, and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption.