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Causes of stress in officers
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Introduction
The job stress consequences in correctional officers revealed that the correctional officer life expectancy is 59 years that is compared for the national average to 75 years. As manifested stress in various physical illnesses includes heart attacks, hypertension and ulcers that found to be higher in comparison to police officers sample. However, in general divorce and alcoholism rates are higher for the officers of correctional than in general for the population. Due to which organizations of correction spend enormous sums annually for liability claims, compensation, and sick leave. Stress among administrators and a correctional officer are often occurred by the rehabilitation and custody conflicting goals, the correctional system’s
The way correction officers are treated in prison is dreadful. “A corrections officer was seriously burned Monday morning in an attack by an inmate at the Green Bay Correctional Institution” (Roberts, 2016). This topic interest me because most of my life my brother has described the working conditions of correction officers in prison. I remember him telling me how one officer had his finger bitten off by an inmate. Correction officers are the guards who work in prison to enforce prisoners, so that inmates do not find themselves constantly in trouble. In addition, the officers ensure inmates’ safety. Despite the fact that the officers want to secure the inmate 's safety, people are unaware of the hardships officers face every day. A great deal of the rigorous challenges guards go through are never mentioned on the news or make it to newspapers. Correction officers are rarely mentioned within society, even though they are a huge part of the law enforcement. There is a
Correctional institutions are unique work settings because of the unpredictable nature of their physical environment and clientele. Correctional officers are responsible for supervising individuals whom are held against their will. The correctional officer’s main focus is that of security within the institution and for the community. However, they are typically faced with a limited amount of resources and thus must assume these responsibilities without adequate support. The relationship between work resources and job stress indicates that correctional work settings that emphasize involvement, coworker cohesion and managerial support can decrease stress levels (Waters, 1999). Unfortunately, this is a rather uncommon occurrence, leaving correctional officers to face stressors without proper intervention due to fear of stigmatization. Within law enforcement, those individuals who access “mental health” services are labeled as and treated similarly (Aredondo, Shumway, Kimball, Dersch, Morelock, 2002). However, research on effective ways to prevent or reduce the physical and psychological effects of the high levels of stress correctional officers face on a daily basis is limited and a rather new phenomenon. This literature review examines the reasons for correctional officer stress, the implications of such stress, and interventions that are being put in place to combat the consequences of such stress.
Officers involved in the study released in 2011 (JAMA) were found to have increased cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and obesity. Other medical conditions included chronic fatigue and as well as sleep apnea. These officers also have increased stress from the family dynamic where there is strain from the shift work in the officers...
Training, talking, and the policies of the department are sometimes a viewed as a necessary evil by officers, but when used effectively, the benefits, and knowledge obtained in these setting, will reduce duplication of the tactics for the reduction of stress that were non productive in the past, and will allow management to harness each of the individuals personal strengths, to meet stress reducing objectives. In today’s high-performance work environment, traditional skills of command must be combined with influence skills, and persuasion strategies for this type of success in creating a less stressful workplace. Focus must be applied on larger patterns of leadership effectiveness for stress reduction to be an open talking point, and not marred in officer criticism, and fear. It is important for law enforcement administration, to take the time to address concerns, and gather information for their own experiences, to reduce unneeded stress within the profession. This will allow administration to make better personnel decisions, and make management of a stressful situation more effective, thus reducing stress on themselves, and the officers below them, while in turn demonstrating the team concept.
There is roughly 2.4 million people locked up in the United states. This statistic surprises everyone and automatically makes them think about the conditions of the prisoners. Even though prisoners have to deal with harsh conditions, most people do not think about the effects of prisons on correctional officers. Even though some may argue that prison conditions are too harsh, correctional officers still have to endure the same conditions as prisoners even though they are not the ones that are locked up. Correctional officers have to endure violence from inmates, intense stress that can cause psychological problems, and stress on families.
In the recent years, organizations have paid extra attention to employee stress and its effect on job performance. Burnout, an outcome of stress is known to cause individual, family and organizational problems and health conditions such as insomnia and hypertension. The question many ask is where does it originate from? And, how supported are the employees by the organization? Researchers have attempted to link stress and burnout and its effect on job performance. This research analysis includes different scholarly studies done and that found many contributing factors such as job satisfaction, work and family demands, work environment, and culture.
Stress is not a permanent or incurable disease. It is one that can be reduced and managed in several different ways, both personally and within the workplace. With any problem, the first step to reaching a solution is identifying key signs or symptoms associated with the issue. Police officers tend to display an array of physical or behavioral changes when they are feeling conflicted or stressed out. A main part of being a good supervisor is noticing even the smallest changes in the actions and behaviors of those that work under their command.
3/4 of Americans say they have experienced nerve wracking moments of stress at work. People who have retired to a stressful job after recovering from an heart attack are more likely to have another one compare to people who haven’t had one. The most stressful jobs are: intercity teachers, police officers, miners, and air traffic control officers. Some home stressors are arguing with their spouse and women who don’t speak their minds are 4 times more likely to die than those who do.
Tang, T., & Hammontree, M. L. (1992). The Effects Of Hardiness, Police Stress, And Life Stress On Police Officers' Illness And Life Stress on Police Officers’ Illness and Absenteeism. Public Personnel Management, 21(4), 493.
Now, before I get into the paper, I first would like to give some background on stress, the HPA axis, cortisol, and oxytocin. I will first start off with defining what exactly stress is. Stress is formally defined as a state of real or perceived threat to homeostasis. In order to maintain homeostasis in the presence of stimuli that act as stressors, various different systems in the human body are activated, including the endocrine, nervous, and immune systems. These collectively are known as the stress response. Activation of the stress response initiates a number of behavioral and physiological changes that improve an individual's chance of survival when faced with these challenges. Behavioral effects of the stress response include increased
Equal to the importance of a patrolman to the police department, a correctional officer is equally important to a prison or jail. Close attention must be paid to the well-being of the staff and inmates. This study will add to the continued wealth of knowledge on the topic of professional attitudes in a correctional institution by examining job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. The attitudes will have a considerable effect on the intentions and behaviors of the staff designed to maintain a safe environment for the inmates. Job stress is related to stressors in the workplace which have adverse effects on the team. Stress in the workplace has been linked to illnesses and a shorter life expectancy. It has also been associated with divorce, substance abuse, and suicide among correctional officers. Job satisfaction comes from when the employees receive fulfillment from their needs being met at work. Initially, job satisfaction is related to compliance with the organization rules. Lastly, the organizational commitment is the relationship between the employee and their organization(Lambert & Paoline, 2008). There two major perspectives of organizational commitment calculative and attitudinal. When the employee is committed to the organization because of some sort cost or benefits, which determines their level of commitment to the team. The second view attitudinal commitment is the strength of an individual's feelings towards and views of the group believes in its goals. These measures may be more likely to be linked to real employees. One theory for this study is attitudinal commitment creates a positive work environment. The research was also able to examine
Employers should look for early signs of stress in their employees to keep them in good health and working with good performance. Employees should use all forms of problem-faced coping in order to keep their stress under control so that it does not affect their job performance. There are many way available for the employer and the employee to keep performance high, like in Paul Keller’s case.
Lichten, R. (2011, January 1). Overcrowded Prisons and Officer Safety. . Retrieved June 24, 2014
Although many studies have explained the topic of job satisfaction and mental health, there has been less concern about employees in the police service in terms of their job satisfaction and mental health especially in Ghana. Also job satisfaction among police personnel should be of great concern to all because without these employees security and law enforcement will come to a halt. More so, the mental health of police officials is of great concern because of the nature of their work. Thus, some of their work entails handling of dead bodies, assault from the public among others and all these endanger their lives if care is not taken which affect them physically and psychologically at the long
Globally, Occupational stress has become a health challenge, especially for those, who are dedicated to serve the human sectors like police officials, media personnel etc. It can affect people in all occupations and of all ages irrespective of sex, nationality, educational background or role. Police is considered as one of the most important profession at everywhere because of the mere fact that they protect and serve the general public. The country’s stability attributed to productiveness, motivation and health of a police service which are regarded as important factors contributing to an economic growth and development of country. 1