A qualitative study on the psychosocial effects of professional experiences of correctional officers

There are various factors that affect the health and social life of individuals in daily life. Considering these factors, it is possible to say that the work environment where the individual spends the majority of person's time is one of the social factors that have a significant impact on person's health. The work environment can have positive or negative effects on the health and life of the individuals working there. At this point, it would be meaningful for today's individuals who spend more time in the work environment than with their families and loved ones, to examine the effects of their work on working individuals and to crown these studies with meaningful preventive strategy studies such as long psycho-education studies. In line with all these, it is thought that professionals who are intertwined with traumatic experiences and provide assistance services due to their work environment and profession are in a position that should be given importance and is at risk. In this case, the participant profile selected for this research was determined in line with the mentioned risks: correctional officers. This study aims to examine the psychosocial effects of the professional experiences of correctional officers, who are a professional group working in a work environment intertwined with trauma and related factors, such as penal institutions, and to examine the psychosocial effects of correctional officers as an important agent of the criminal justice system through the findings obtained as a result of the study. It was made to attract attention. In order to obtain data in the study, in-depth interviews were conducted with the participants using a semi-structured interview form. Interviews were held with 10 execution and protection officers who have been working in their profession for at least 5 years. The data obtained from the participants were analyzed using the thematic analysis method. According to the findings, it is seen that correctional officers have more difficulties mentally and physically in the first years of their career. Among the striking findings are that female correctional officers are particularly emotionally challenged and experience some problems in their parenting lives. It can be said that the physical conditions of the profession sometimes have negative effects on individuals who are members of the profession. Another important finding is that the majority of participants in the correctional officer position stated that the problems experienced with the administration and colleagues were the most challenging aspect of the profession for them. In addition, it is seen that the participants' perception of their professional work as a requirement of the law contributes positively to their emotional and stress management. On the other hand, the fact that almost all of the participants' activities outside working hours are mostly in open areas is among the important findings in terms of containing information about the actual lives of correctional officers. Finally, it is seen that the professional lives of individuals who are correctional officers lead to some important personal changes over time. Among these changes, it is seen that correctional officers become more patient individuals over time, their ability to control their anger improves, and their ability to think more clearly and not make sudden decisions. These positive changes have outcomes parallel to the literature and are also associated with the concept of post-traumatic growth.