Inmates-to-staff assaults, PTSD and burnout: profiles of risk and vulnerability.

Boudoukha AH ，Altintas E ，Rusinek S ，Fantini-Hauwel C ，Hautekeete M ... -  《-》

[Burnout and victimisation: impact of inmates' aggression towards prison guards].

Prison is typically considered as a dangerous setting partly because of promiscuity and violence, which leads to a whole series of suffering and frustration among prisoners. Due to their occupation, prison guards must ensure the safety of the inmates, their colleagues, as well as any other persons working in prison and in the prison setting. Thus, correctional guards are the "Bumper excitement" of prison violence and suffer from stressful and traumatic events. Indeed, inmates' sufferings and frustration are firstly expressed towards them because they share daily relationships with inmates. In addition, correctional guards are faced with the high inmate suicide risk. One potential consequence of these chronic stressful situations is burnout. Burnout is described as a three-dimensional syndrome composed of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and sense of lack of personal accomplishment. Burnout is a severe psychological suffering, which can lead to depression. It has been initially identified among persons who are working with patients. Nevertheless, research shows that burnout is not a psychopathology of work but of the relationship with others. In other terms, burnout seems to arise when people share stressful, chronic and violent relationships with someone else. Burnout doesn't appear per se in any international classification of mental disorders: clinicians often use the diagnosis of adjustment disorder. Our aim is to assess the impact of victimization on burnout among guards in French prisons. Prison guards were chosen for two major reasons. First, the custodial role of correctional officers is typically described as a stressful occupation, sensitive to burnout. Second, prison is generally considered "dangerous". Indeed, victimizations and aggressions frequently occur. Consequently, we hypothesize that burnout levels will be high for prison guards. We also hypothesize that the intensity of the victimizations (verbal, physical or armed aggression) will heighten burnout levels. Two hundred and thirty-five prison guards were involved. Among these 235 correctional guards, there were 46 women and 188 men, ranging from 22 to 56 years old. Victimizations were very common: more than 87 % had experienced an aggression, whether verbally, physically or armed. They were asked to fill out the French form of the Maslach burnout Inventory (MBI). The MBI is a 22-item self-report measurement that assesses the three dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Items are rated on a 7-point scale ranging from 0 ("never") to 6 ("every day"). We have statistically created a new global level of burnout with the three dimensions. It is called "burnout level". We have assessed two sets of independent variables (VI): demographic VI (age, sex, tenure, level of studies) and correctional VI (penal status of prison, victimizations). Regarding our dependent variables, we have four levels which are (1) global burnout (GB), (2) emotional exhaustion (EE), (3) depersonalization (D), and (4) personal accomplishment (PA). For the purpose of our study, we carried out variance analyses (Anova) in order to compare the averages of our groups of subjects. Further to Anova, we chose the Bonferroni/Dunn post hoc test. The results indicate that demographic variables such as age, sex or level of studies have no significant effect on GB, EE, D and PA levels. Tenure has a significant effect on GB and D levels. Concerning correctional variables, results show that the penal status of prison has a significant effect on GB and EE. Prison guards working with inmates incarcerated for more than 5years report higher GB and EE than their counterparts working with inmates not already convicted. Victimizations have a significant effect on GB, EE, D and PA levels. Prison guards with physical or armed aggressions report higher global GB, EE, D and PA levels than prison guards without aggressions. Furthermore, prison guards with physical or armed aggressions report higher global GB and D levels than prison guards with verbal aggressions. Two major points are highlighted by our study. First, characteristics of prison and inmates are related to burnout among prison guards. Second, victimizations lead to burnout.

Boudoukha AH ，Hautekeete M ，Abdellaoui S ，Groux W ，Garay D ... -  《ENCEPHALE-REVUE DE PSYCHIATRIE CLINIQUE BIOLOGIQUE ET THERAPEUTIQUE》

Inmate Violence and Correctional Staff Burnout: The Role of Sense of Security, Gender, and Job Characteristics.

Isenhardt A ，Hostettler U 《-》

Exposure to Traumatic Events and the Experience of Burnout, Compassion Fatigue and Compassion Satisfaction among Prison Mental Health Staff: An Exploratory Survey.

Bell S ，Hopkin G ，Forrester A 《-》

The role of prison officers' regulation of inmates affect on their exposure to violent behaviours and the development of PTSD symptoms.

Interactions with inmates are a major source of stress for prison officers. Given the conflicting nature of this relationship, violent behaviours towards prison officers are not uncommon, posing a threat to their psychological well-being. This study analyses the role that the strategies prison officers use to regulate inmates' emotions have on the frequency of inmates' violent behaviour and on the presence of posttraumatic stress symptoms in prison officers. Based on interactional models of emotional regulation, a model is proposed in which interpersonal regulation has an indirect effect on PTSD symptoms mediated by the response of the inmate. A total of 424 prison officers employed at 5 Uruguayan prisons completed a questionnaire. The results confirm that emotional regulation strategies are related to inmates' violent behaviour, which in turn affects prison officers' PTSD symptoms. In particular, prison officers use of strategies to improve inmates' affect reduces the level of inmate´s violent behaviours that mediate the negative relationship between affect-improving strategies and officers' PTSD symptoms. The mediating role of inmates' violent behaviour is also confirmed for the positive relationship between affect-worsening strategies and PTSD symptoms. Unexpected results for affect-worsening strategies suggest the presence of a conflict escalation cycle. The impact of the interpersonal regulation of the affect of inmates on the quality of prison officer-inmate relationships and on the exposure of prison officers to potentially traumatic violent events must be taken into account in the analysis of PTSD symptom development. The practical implications for the reduction of the exposure to potentially traumatic violent events and the prevention of PTSD symptoms among prison officers are discussed.

Martinez-Iñigo D 《European Journal of Psychotraumatology》