Perceived Physical Health, Psychological Distress, and Social Support Among Prison Officers

• Author: Joel Harvey
• Published date: 01 June 2014
• Date: 01 June 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0032885514524883
• Subject Matter: Articles

The Prison Journal

2014, Vol. 94(2) 242 –259

© 2014 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/0032885514524883

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Article

Perceived Physical

Health, Psychological

Distress, and Social

Support Among Prison

Officers

Joel Harvey1

Abstract

This research examines perceived physical health, psychological distress,

and social support among prison officers in the United Kingdom. The study

found that prison officers reported poor perceived physical health and a high

level of psychological distress. There were significant correlations between

measures of perceived physical health and a measure of psychological distress

(indicating that as perceived physical health decreased, psychological distress

increased). There was some evidence that social support from within the

prison moderated the relationship between perceived physical health and

psychological distress, whereas social support from significant others did not.

Future research and clinical implications of these findings are considered.

Keywords

prison officers, physical health, psychological distress, social support

Introduction

In England and Wales, Her Majesty’s Prison Service employs more than 43,000

prison staff, of whom 25,000 are prison officers (Coyle, 2005). Prison officers

1King’s College London, UK

Corresponding Author:

Joel Harvey, Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental

Sciences, King’s College London, P.O. 23, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SES 8AF,

UK.

Email: joel.harvey@kcl.ac.uk

524883TPJXXX10.1177/0032885514524883The Prison JournalHarvey

research-article2014

Harvey 243

work with more than 80,000 prisoners, across 138 prisons. The workplaces

vary in demands on prison officers and have been described as “emotional

labour” (Crawley, 2006). The National Audit Office’s (2004) report, The

Management of Sickness Absence in the Prison Service, in the United Kingdom

suggested that the work of prison officers could lead to negative physical and

psychological health consequences. Research in the United States has found

that prison officers suffer a higher rate of physical health problems than people

in other occupations (Cheek & Miller, 1983; Woodruff, 1993), and higher lev-

els of self-reported health symptoms have been found to be associated with

higher levels of psychological distress (Dollard & Winefeld, 1998).

A number of studies have documented the emotional reactions of prison

staff to their work and have used various different terms to refer to their psy-

chological health difficulties. These terms include work stress (Armstrong &

Griffin, 2004; Cullen, Link, Wolfe, & Frank, 1985; Grossi & Berg, 1991),

stress (Cheek & Miller, 1983; Lindquist & Whitehead, 1986; Owen, 2006),

burnout (Cieslak, Korczynska, Strelau, & Kaczmarek, 2008; Drory & Shamir,

1988; Griffin, Hogan, Lambert, Tucker-Gail, & Baker, 2010), tedium (Shamir

& Drory, 1982), psychological distress (Dollard & Winefeld, 1998; Johnson

et al., 2005; Liebling, Tait, Durie, Stiles, & Harvey, 2005; Long & Vogues,

1987), and trauma (Wright, Borrill, Teers, & Cassidy, 2006). Levels of psy-

chological distress have been found to be high (Dollard & Winefeld, 1998;

Liebling et al., 2005) and have been reported to be higher than those in other

normative samples (Johnson et al., 2005; Long & Vogues, 1987).

Not only has research examined the extent of prison officers’ psychologi-

cal and health difficulties but also has documented their sources of stress (i.e.,

stressors; Armstrong & Griffin, 2004; Dowden & Tellier, 2004; Griffin, 2006;

Schaufeli & Peeters, 2000). The most prominent factors to contribute to stress

in prison work are role problems; stressful contact with peers, supervisors,

and prisoners; work overload; and the poor social status of the job (Schaufeli

& Peeters, 2000). Moreover, a lack of social support was in itself a source of

stress among prison officers (Schaufeli & Peeters, 2000).

Social support is an important construct to consider in the light of these

challenges to the physical and psychological well-being of prison officers. It

has been argued that strong ties between individuals can protect them from

the pathogenic effects of stressful life events (Berkman & Syme, 1979; Cobb,

1976; Cohen, Gottlieb, & Underwood, 2000).

Research has been carried out in countries other than the United Kingdom

examining social support among prison officers (Armstrong & Griffin, 2004;

Auerbach, Quick, & Pegg, 2003; Cieslak et al., 2008; Cullen et al., 1985;

Dignam, Barrera, & West, 1986; Dignam & West, 1988; Dollard & Winefeld,

1998; Drory & Shamir, 1988; Gerstein, Topp, & Cornell, 1987; Grossi &