Prison officers' experiences of aggression: implications for sleep and recovery.

BACKGROUND: Prison officers are at high risk of assault that can impair their mental as well as physical health. Such experiences can also disrupt sleep, with negative implications for well-being and job performance. To manage this risk, insight is needed into the mechanisms by which experiencing aggression from prisoners can affect officers' sleep quality. By impairing recovery processes, work-related hypervigilance and rumination might be key factors in this association. AIMS: To examine prison officers' personal experiences of aggression and associations with sleep quality. Also, to consider whether work-related hypervigilance and rumination mediate the relationship between exposure to aggression and sleep. METHODS: We assessed prison officers' experiences of aggression and violence, work-related hypervigilance and rumination via an online survey. The PROMIS was used to measure the quality of sleep. RESULTS: The study sample comprised 1,806 prison officers (86.8% male). A significant relationship was found between the frequency of experiences of aggression at work and the quality of sleep. Work-related hypervigilance and rumination were significantly associated with sleep quality and mediated the relationship between workplace aggression and sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that enhancing the safety climate in prisons might improve officers' quality of sleep that, in turn, could benefit their wellbeing and performance. Implementing individual-level strategies to help prison officers manage hypervigilance and rumination, and therefore facilitate recovery, should also be effective in improving their sleep.

New psychoactive substances, safety and mental health in prison officers.

BACKGROUND: The use of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in UK prisons is believed to have increased substantially. As well as posing a significant threat to prisoners' health, NPS use can trigger violent, unpredictable and aggressive behaviour. Dealing with the direct and indirect effects of NPS therefore has the potential to compromise the physical and psychological safety of prison staff. AIMS: This study investigates prison officers' perceptions of NPS use in their workplace and their risk of exposure. Relationships between NPS exposure, the workplace safety climate and mental health were also examined. METHODS: We assessed prison officers' perceptions of the prevalence of NPS use among prisoners in their workplace, their personal exposure and the safety climate in their institution through an online survey. The General Health Questionnaire-12 measured mental health. Descriptive statistics were used to assess officers' perceptions of NPS use in their workplace and their personal exposure and correlations examined relationships between variables. RESULTS: The sample comprised 1956 prison officers (86% male). Most respondents (85%) highlighted NPS as a serious cause for concern in their institution. Two-thirds (66%) reported being personally exposed to NPS at least sometimes, with 22% being exposed once a day or more. Significant relationships were found between officers' perceived NPS exposure, assessments of safety climate and self-reported mental health. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the need for urgent action to reduce the use of NPS among prisoners. This is likely to improve the safety climate of UK prisons and the mental health of staff.

Emotional demands, compassion and mental health in social workers.

BACKGROUND: Compassion, described as the act of providing care based on empathy, dignity and respect, is intrinsic to effective health and social care. Although delivering compassionate care has wide-ranging benefits for service users, more insight is needed into its effects on health and social care professionals. The emotional demands of 'helping' work can engender compassion fatigue that may impair well-being, whereas compassion satisfaction and feelings of compassion towards the self could be protective. AIMS: To examine the effects (direct and indirect) of compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue and self-compassion on mental health in a cohort of social workers. METHODS: We used validated scales to measure emotional demands, compassion satisfaction and fatigue, and self-compassion and the General Health Questionnaire-12 to assess mental health. We tested the main and moderating effects of emotional demands and the three facets of compassion using hierarchical regression analysis. RESULTS: The study sample comprised 306 social workers (79% female). Participants who reported higher levels of compassion satisfaction and self-compassion tended to report better mental health, whereas compassion fatigue was a significant risk factor for well-being. The models explained 44-53% of the variance in mental health symptoms. We found some evidence that compassion satisfaction and self-compassion buffer the negative effects of emotional demand on mental health, contributing 2 and 3%, respectively, to the incremental variance. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that evidence-based interventions are needed to reduce compassion fatigue and enhance compassion satisfaction and self-compassion in social care work. We consider ways to accomplish this using targeted interventions.

Job demands, resources and work-related well-being in UK firefighters.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that firefighters are at risk of work-related stress and mental health problems, but little is known about the organizational hazards they experience. Insight is needed into the work-related factors that are most likely to threaten or protect their work-related well-being. AIMS: To identify levels of job demands and resources (including demands relating to workload, work patterns and the working environment, relationship conflicts, control, support, role clarity and change management) among firefighters, and to use a job demands-resources framework to examine their impacts on work-related well-being. The role played by recovery strategies in predicting work-related well-being was also considered. METHODS: Job demands and resources were assessed by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) Management Standards Indicator Tool. Validated scales measured recovery strategies (detachment, affective rumination and problem-solving pondering) and work-related well-being (anxiety-contentment and depression-enthusiasm). The impact of job demands, resources and recovery strategies was tested by multiple linear regression. RESULTS: The sample comprised 909 firefighters across seven Fire and Rescue Services in the UK (85% male). Levels of job demands and resources did not meet HSE benchmarks. The main risk factors for poor work-related well-being were relationship conflicts and affective rumination, but resources such as role clarity and job control and the use of problem-solving pondering and detachment were beneficial. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions that aim to reduce relationship conflicts at work and promote problem-solving rather than affective rumination, and detachment from work when off-duty, are likely to improve work-related well-being. Attention to enhancing job resources may also be beneficial.

Presenteeism in academic employees-occupational and individual factors.

Background: There is growing evidence that presenteeism can be damaging for individuals and organizations. It is, therefore, important to identify the prevalence of working while sick in different working environments and the factors that contribute to such behaviour. Aims: To examine the prevalence of self-reported presenteeism in academic staff working in UK universities and colleges and the extent to which job demands, control, support and work engagement are risk factors. Methods: Scales from the Health and Safety Executive Management Standards Indicator Tool were used to measure job demands, control and support from managers and co-workers. Work engagement was assessed using a validated measure and the frequency of self-reported presenteeism was measured. The effects of demands, control, support and engagement on presenteeism were examined with ordinal regression analysis. Results: The study sample comprised 6874 people working in academic roles in UK colleges and universities (59% female). Most respondents (88%) reported working while sick at least sometimes. The risk factors for presenteeism were job demands, control, support from managers and work engagement. Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that presenteeism is commonplace in UK colleges and universities. Some of the features of the job that might encourage employees to work while sick are highlighted, whereas engagement in work was an additional risk factor.

Job demands, resources and mental health in UK prison officers.

BACKGROUND: Research findings indicate that working as a prison officer can be highly stressful, but the aspects of work that predict their mental health status are largely unknown. AIMS: To examine, using elements of the demands-resources model, the extent to which work pressure and several potential resources (i.e. control, support from managers and co-workers, role clarity, effective working relationships and positive change management) predict mental health in a sample of UK prison officers. METHODS: The Health and Safety Executive Management Standards Indicator Tool was used to measure job demands and resources. Mental health was assessed by the General Health Questionnaire-28. The effects of demands and resources on mental health were examined via linear regression analysis with GHQ score as the outcome. RESULTS: The study sample comprised 1267 prison officers (86% male). Seventy-four per cent met 'caseness' criteria for mental health problems. Job demands, poor interpersonal relationships, role ambiguity and, to a lesser extent, low job control and poor management of change were key predictors of mental health status. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study can help occupational health practitioners and psychologists develop structured interventions to improve well-being among prison officers.