Author(s)

Jessica Ballin¹, Meike Niederhausen², Kerry S. Kuehl¹, Diane L. Elliot¹, Wendy McGinnis¹, Carol De Francesco¹

¹Department of Health Promotion & Sports Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
²Oregon Health & Science University-Portland State University School of Public Health, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.

Corrections professionals experience high levels of acute and chronic work-related stress. This stress leads to increased mental and physical illness, early disability and mortality, and increased healthcare costs. Reducing stress requires identifying and prioritizing factors that contribute to it. Corrections professionals (n = 296) working at six different Oregon Department of Corrections facilities completed a cross-sectional survey, including demographics, work history and validated stress and occupational constructs. The outcome of perceived stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4 Short Form). Using a linear mixed effects regression model, we found that perceived stress increases with increased work-related stress (p = 0.02), work hours (p = 0.03), operational stressors (p = 0.002), and lack of procedural injustice (p = 0.03) and decreases with more time employed at current facility (p = 0.06), improved job satisfaction (p < 0.001), and among married or partnered individuals (p = 0.05). Identifying these predictors of stress can inform the development of policy changes to mitigate the stress of this challenged work force.

Perceived Stress, Corrections Professionals, Work-Related Stress, Occupational Stressors, Procedural Justice

Ballin, J. , Niederhausen, M. , Kuehl, K. , Elliot, D. , McGinnis, W. and Francesco, C. (2021) Defining Stress among Corrections Professionals. Open Journal of Preventive Medicine, 11, 237-250. doi: 10.4236/ojpm.2021.116019.