Job Stress and Burnout among Probation/Parole Officers: Perceptions and Causal Factors

Whitehead, John T.; Lindquist, Charles A.

doi:10.1177/0306624x8502900204

Cited by 44 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Probation officer job stress is demonstrated to be significantly impacted by supervisory support [56]. Both probation and parole officer job stress and burnout is impacted by work overload and inadequate resources [57]. Given the similarities between the various employees within the law enforcement industry, the results presented in this paper may be generalizable to other law enforcement personnel.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizational stressors associated with job stress and burnout in correctional officers: a systematic review

et al. 2013

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BackgroundIn adult correctional facilities, correctional officers (COs) are responsible for the safety and security of the facility in addition to aiding in offender rehabilitation and preventing recidivism. COs experience higher rates of job stress and burnout that stem from organizational stressors, leading to negative outcomes for not only the CO but the organization as well. Effective interventions could aim at targeting organizational stressors in order to reduce these negative outcomes as well as COs’ job stress and burnout. This paper fills a gap in the organizational stress literature among COs by systematically reviewing the relationship between organizational stressors and CO stress and burnout in adult correctional facilities. In doing so, the present review identifies areas that organizational interventions can target in order to reduce CO job stress and burnout.MethodsA systematic search of the literature was conducted using Medline, PsycINFO, Criminal Justice Abstracts, and Sociological Abstracts. All retrieved articles were independently screened based on criteria developed a priori. All included articles underwent quality assessment. Organizational stressors were categorized according to Cooper and Marshall’s (1976) model of job stress.ResultsThe systematic review yielded 8 studies that met all inclusion and quality assessment criteria. The five categories of organizational stressors among correctional officers are: stressors intrinsic to the job, role in the organization, rewards at work, supervisory relationships at work and the organizational structure and climate. The organizational structure and climate was demonstrated to have the most consistent relationship with CO job stress and burnout.ConclusionsThe results of this review indicate that the organizational structure and climate of correctional institutions has the most consistent relationship with COs’ job stress and burnout. Limitations of the studies reviewed include the cross-sectional design and the use of varying measures for organizational stressors. The results of this review indicate that interventions should aim to improve the organizational structure and climate of the correctional facility by improving communication between management and COs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizational stressors associated with job stress and burnout in correctional officers: a systematic review

et al. 2013

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“…Studies involving community correctional officers have found that role conflict was related to emotional exhaustion (Holgate and Clegg, 1991), the impersonal treatment of offenders (Whitehead and Lindquist, 1985;Whitehead, 1987), and greater occupational burnout (Whitehead and Lindquist, 1985). While these findings lend support to the validity of the role conflict scale, the broad conceptualisation of role conflict adopted in these studies did not allow for a full exploration of how role conflict was related to occupational burnout.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…Studies that have employed a direct measure have broadly conceptualised role conflict as the degree to which officers' expectations of their role are incompatible with the reality of their role (Whitehead and Lindquist, 1985;Whitehead, 1987;Holgate and Clegg, 1991). These studies have focused their attention on the effect that role conflict has on officers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role Conflict in Community Corrections

Allard

Wortley

Stewart

2003

Psychology, Crime & Law

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A study was conducted to determine whether prior research had accurately conceptualised community correctional officers' experience of role conflict on the basis of officers' role preferences. It was hypothesised that officers who were welfare workers or punitive officers would experience inter-role conflict while those who attempted to combine the welfare and punitive roles (protective agents) would experience intra-role conflict and role ambiguity. Furthermore, an exploration of how inter-role conflict, intra-role conflict, role ambiguity, and officers' role preferences were related to occupational burnout was conducted. It was found in this study that officers' preferences for the role of welfare worker, protective agent, or punitive officer were not related to the level of inter-role conflict, intra-role conflict, or role ambiguity experienced by officers. Officers' role preferences were not related to burnout. Inter-role conflict and intra-role conflict were associated with emotional exhaustion. These findings call into question the whole tradition in the community corrections literature of inferring role conflict from officers' role preferences and necessitate that the whole issue of whether officers experience role conflict be revisited by employing direct measures of role conflict.

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“…However, they point out that problems associated with professional role orientations are varied and not clearly defined (see Schaufeli & Peeters, 2000). Several studies demonstrate that role conflict may lead to job burnout and stress (Gayman & Bradley, 2013;White et al, 2005;Whitehead & Lindquist, 1985). Allard, Wortley, and Stewart (2003) discovered that the preference for a particular supervision strategy is not necessarily associated with role conflict.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probation and parole case management as opportunity-reduction supervision

Schaefer

Williamson

2017

Journal of Offender Rehabilitation

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Recent developments in probation and parole show a shift from the traditional control and treatment approach towards opportunity-reduction supervision strategies. Studies show that although opportunity-reduction supervision is not yet an organising framework for practice, many practitioners rely on these tactics informally as an approach to case management. The current study uses survey data to explore the predictors of surveillance, rehabilitation, and opportunity-reduction strategies used by probation and parole officers. Results indicate job burnout and stress are the strongest predictors of the supervision strategies that officers use. Implications for the use of opportunity-reduction supervision strategies in offender case management are discussed.

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Job Stress and Burnout among Probation/Parole Officers: Perceptions and Causal Factors

Cited by 44 publications

References 7 publications

Organizational stressors associated with job stress and burnout in correctional officers: a systematic review

Organizational stressors associated with job stress and burnout in correctional officers: a systematic review

Role Conflict in Community Corrections

Probation and parole case management as opportunity-reduction supervision

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