Workability and mental wellbeing among therapeutic prison officers

Emma Walker; Craig Jackson; Helen Egan; Matthew Tonkin

doi:10.1093/occmed/kqv084

Workability and mental wellbeing among therapeutic prison officers

Emma Walker, Craig Jackson, Helen Egan, Matthew Tonkin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Background

Previous research has examined how age and health can shape workability (WA). This study seeks to explore how a lack of WA (inability) may affect the health of the employee.

Aims

To explore the effects of work inability on mental wellbeing among therapeutic prison officers.

Methods

An anonymous cross-sectional study of prison officers was conducted in a Category B English prison using the Work Ability Index and General Health Questionnaire-28

Results

Fifty-seven officers (59%) participated and of those 95% achieved GHQ caseness. Officers with poorer WA reported significantly higher GHQ scores. Work inability for mental demands had significant associations with anxiety (β = -0.58, 95% CI -4.21 to -1.88, particularly sleep loss; Pearson’s r = -0.66).

Conclusions

Our findings present clear associations between poor WA and its impact upon mental wellbeing. The results of this study may help to focus on areas for intervention such as improving WA and promoting mental wellbeing.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	549-551
Number of pages	3
Journal	Occupational Medicine
Volume	65
Issue number	7
Early online date	23 Jun 2015
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqv084
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 1 Oct 2015

Keywords

Mental wellbeing
occupation
prisons
work ability

Access to Document

10.1093/occmed/kqv084

OCC MED_Final_CopyAuthor Accepted Manuscript, 144 KB

Cite this

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Workability and mental wellbeing among therapeutic prison officers

Abstract

Keywords

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