Background The use of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in UK prisons is believed to have increased substantially. As well as posing a significant threat to prisoners’ health, NPS use can trigger violent, unpredictable and aggressive behaviour. Dealing with the direct and indirect effects of NPS therefore has the potential to compromise the physical and psychological safety of prison staff. Aims This study investigates prison officers’ perceptions of NPS use in their workplace and their risk of exposure. Relationships between NPS exposure, the workplace safety climate and mental health were also examined. Methods We assessed prison officers’ perceptions of the prevalence of NPS use among prisoners in their workplace, their personal exposure and the safety climate in their institution through an online survey. The General Health Questionnaire-12 measured mental health. Descriptive statistics were used to assess officers’ perceptions of NPS use in their workplace and their personal exposure and correlations examined relationships between variables. Results The sample comprised 1956 prison officers (86% male). Most respondents (85%) highlighted NPS as a serious cause for concern in their institution. Two-thirds (66%) reported being personally exposed to NPS at least sometimes, with 22% being exposed once a day or more. Significant relationships were found between officers’ perceived NPS exposure, assessments of safety climate and self-reported mental health. Conclusions Our findings highlight the need for urgent action to reduce the use of NPS among prisoners. This is likely to improve the safety climate of UK prisons and the mental health of staff.

中文翻译：

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监狱官员的新型精神活性物质、安全和心理健康

背景 据信，英国监狱中新型精神活性物质 (NPS) 的使用已大幅增加。除了对囚犯的健康构成重大威胁外，使用 NPS 还可能引发暴力、不可预测和攻击性行为。因此，处理 NPS 的直接和间接影响有可能危及监狱工作人员的身心安全。目的 本研究调查监狱官员对其工作场所使用 NPS 的看法及其暴露风险。还检查了 NPS 暴露、工作场所安全气氛和心理健康之间的关系。方法 我们通过在线调查评估了监狱官员对囚犯在工作场所使用 NPS 的普遍程度、他们的个人接触和机构中的安全气氛的看法。General Health Questionnaire-12 测量了心理健康。描述性统计数据用于评估官员对其工作场所使用 NPS 的看法，以及他们的个人暴露和相关性检查变量之间的关系。结果 样本包括 1956 名狱警（86% 为男性）。大多数受访者 (85%) 强调 NPS 是他们所在机构关注的一个严重问题。三分之二 (66%) 的人表示至少有时会亲自接触 NPS，其中 22% 的人每天接触一次或更多。在警官感知的 NPS 暴露、安全环境评估和自我报告的心理健康之间发现了显着的关系。结论 我们的研究结果强调需要采取紧急行动来减少囚犯对 NPS 的使用。这可能会改善英国监狱的安全氛围和工作人员的心理健康。