ABSTRACT

Despite a voluminous literature recognizing the challenges and stresses facing correctional officers, few programs exist to preventatively help correctional officers with their mental health, and of the existing programs few are designed specifically for correctional officers or have any evidence-based data available that speaks to their effectiveness. In the current study, we start to fill this gap in knowledge by providing feedback on a pre-employment mental health training program designed for correctional officers, Advanced Mental Strength and Conditioning (AMStrength) offered to recruits in the Correctional Service of Canada. We draw on interviews with 49 recruits to understand their experience of the program, the skills learned, and their application of the skills learned to shed light on the programming needs of recruits as they prepare for correctional work. Findings show general themes: that recruits are (i) largely positive about the AMStrength training and the skills taught, but also (ii) resistant to personalizing the training evidenced in a description of the training as useful for others but not themselves. Policy and training implications are discussed.

摘要

尽管有大量文献认识到惩教人员面临的挑战和压力，但很少有预防性措施可以帮助教养人员改善其心理健康，并且在现有计划中，很少有专为教养人员设计的方案，或者有可用的循证数据可以证明他们的健康。效力。在当前的研究中，我们通过为专为惩教人员设计的职前心理健康培训计划提供反馈，从而填补了知识上的空白，该计划是为加拿大惩教局的应聘者提供的高级精神力量和调理（AMStrength）。我们接受了49位应聘者的采访，以了解他们的计划经验，所学技能，以及他们对所学技能的应用，以揭示新兵在准备教养工作时的编程需求。调查结果显示了一般主题：应征者（i）对AMStrength培训和所教技能大体上是积极的，而且（ii）拒绝个性化培训，该培训说明中描述的培训对其他人有用，但对他们自己没有帮助。讨论了政策和培训的含义。