NCJ Number
85711
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 46 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1982) Pages: 33-40
Date Published
1982
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article considers numerous situational stressors, stress reactions, and stress reduction strategies currently used by correctional officers, and a social learning theory treatment program to reduce stress for correctional officers is presented.
Abstract
The environmental factors that are stressors for correctional officers can be divided into three categories: (1) stressors internal to the correctional system, such as administrative problems; (2) stressors of correctional work itself, such as interactions with inmates; and (3) stressors external to the correctional system, such as poor public image and low pay. Currently, correctional officers experience high incidences of stress-related physical symptoms and behavioral and emotional problems at work and in their personal lives. Correctional institutions have not developed adequate programs to reduce correctional officers' occupational stress. The recommended approach is the multifaceted approach to stress reaction of the social learning theorists, which emphasizes the physiological, cognitive, and behavioral components of stress reactions and includes a thorough assessment of the individual. This strategy includes a pretreatment assessment of each officer's stress reduction needs and the provision of appropriate programs to meet those needs, which include relaxation training, cognitive restructuring, behavioral skills training, and stress inoculation training. Sixty references are listed.