Relationship between social support and depression among jail corrections officers - a pilot study.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ahmad O ; Barnidge E ; Dick R ; Jaegers L ; Kelly P ; Matthieu M ; Nadimpalli S ; Scheetz G
• Description:
  Background: When compared to the U.S. workforce, jail corrections officers (COs) experience higher rates of depression, possibly due to the trauma of working with an incarcerated population, complying with jail policies and management, and dealing with personal issues outside of the workplace. COs report feeling isolated because they do not feel they can share their work experiences with non-coworkers. This pilot study explored an association between social support and depression. Methods: As a part of a larger study to conduct a needs assessment of jail COs' mental health issues to inform workplace health interventions, we used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) process. The CBPR teams determined survey constructs of interest to explore family and friend support in regards to depression among jail COs. We recruited COs at 2 urban and 2 rural jails in the midwest U.S. to complete self-reported surveys with constructs from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (e.g. trouble communicating with family/friends, feeling lonely) and Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) survey (e.g. stress, fatigue). We analyzed the data with SPSS by calculating descriptives of the population and performing univariate analysis (considering covariates such as irritation, fatigue, family responsibilities and socioeconomic status). Results: Preliminary results of the sample of 326 corrections officers had 13% reporting a diagnosis of depression. Forty percent of COs reported that they felt depressed at least 1-2 days in the previous week. Fifty-one percent of officers reported work tensions made them irritated at home (and 21% said things at home bothered them at work) while 36% stated they felt lonely. We found that feeling depression for 1 or more days in a week was associated with: 1) work-family conflict (p<=.05) and 2) marriage/partnership (p<=.05) after adjusting for covariates. Conclusion: Our preliminary analysis showed that depression can affect COs even in the presence of family, friends and a partner. We plan to explore these constructs in focus groups to design workplace interventions for the reduction of mental stressors and depression among COs. Learning objectives: Describe the association between depression and social support among corrections officers. Identify 2 intervention options which address depression among COs. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Correctional Facilities Epidemiology Family Fatigue Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological Workplace
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Workforce; Well-Being Correctional Facilities; TWH; Total Worker Health; Mental Health; Work Environment; Job Stress; Fatigue; Epidemiology; Work-life Balance; Families; Psychosocial Factors;
• Publisher:
  American Public Health Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; Iowa ; Missouri ; OSHA Region 7 ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065913
• Citation:
  Creating the Healthiest Nation: Ensuring the Right to Health: APHA 144th Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 29 - November 2, 2016, Denver, Colorado. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 2016 Oct; :361737
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction ; Services
• Performing Organization:
  University of Iowa
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20060901
• Source Full Name:
  Creating the Healthiest Nation: Ensuring the Right to Health: APHA 144th Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 29 - November 2, 2016, Denver, Colorado
• End Date:
  20260831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3872f857832f51130d7cb1bebf2056e5b4fe0e7a626b7a2fe93c796b5d32d1932ec954eda7f935fcf933514ba901ec72043ca2ca58778d9a1879dc0226ce8c16
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/249603/cdc_249603_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 93.44 KB ]