Assessing Relative Stressors and Mental Disorders among Canadian Provincial Correctional Workers

Date

2021-09-23

Authors

Konyk, Katy
Ricciardelli, Rosemary
Taillieu, Tamara
Afifi, Tracie, O
Groll, Dianne
Carleton, R. Nicholas

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute

Abstract

In the current study, we quantified the mean stress levels of 43 occupational stressors for 868 Correctional Workers (CWs) and analyzed the relationships between occupational stressors, exposure to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs), and mental health disorders. Our findings emphasize the importance of the occupational environment in relation to CW mental health and indicate that occupational stressors (e.g., staff shortages, inconsistent leadership style, bureaucratic red tape) are more salient contributors to CW mental health than exposure to PPTEs. Finding strategies to ameliorate staff shortages, improve leadership style and communication, and support CWs to maintain physical, mental, and social well-being would be interventions tied to significant organizational and operational stressors within the current study.

Description

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Keywords

occupational stressors, correctional workers, potentially psychologically traumatic events, mental health disorders, PTSD

Citation

Konyk, K., Ricciardelli, R., Taillieu, T., Afifi, T. O., Groll, D., & Carleton, R. N. (2021). Assessing Relative Stressors and Mental Disorders among Canadian Provincial Correctional Workers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 181, 18. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910018