CCWORK protocol: a longitudinal study of Canadian Correctional Workers' Well-being, Organizations, Roles and Knowledge.

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.

Pretrial Detainees, Sentenced Prisoners, and Treatment Motivation.

A dilemma for corrections practitioners is treatment for pretrial detainees. They are innocent until proven guilty and are not required to take treatment, but many may benefit from intervention. To assess the general level of treatment interest and potential differences, a sample of 221 male remand and sentenced Canadian provincial prisoners completed several Client Evaluation of Self and Treatment (CEST) scales. Prisoner treatment motivation and its correlates were assessed by examining univariate, bivariate, and multivariate effects for demographic attributes, legal factors, risk, perceptions of personal/family/pressure for treatment, and depression. It was found that about 36% to 40% of study subjects expressed moderate to strong motivation for treatment. Age, pressure, and depression were the only correlates consistently associated with treatment motivation. There were no differences found between remand and sentenced prisoners. Results indicated that pretrial detainees have a definite interest in undertaking programming.