Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Public safety personnel (e.g., police officers and firefighters) are an occupational group marked by a high prevalence of mental health disorders compared to the general population. Correctional officers are a type of public safety personnel who work in prisons. As part of their job, correctional officers are regularly exposed to traumatic events, which include being victimized by prisoners, witnessing and responding to assaults, and attempted or completed death by suicide. Among public safety personnel, correctional officers have the highest rates of mental health disorders (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder), with over half screening positive for at least one. As correctional officers have the highest prevalence of mental health disorders among public safety personnel, it is essential to examine how correctional officers experience such disorders through the interacting symptoms of the disorders to better understand how to help treat them. To do so, correctional officers will be provided with surveys to evaluate their mental health. My project will advance knowledge on the mental health of correctional officers and potentially public safety personnel in general. By determining how correctional officers experience the symptoms of common mental disorders, correctional agencies and other related agencies can develop and strengthen mental health programs and services for correctional officers both nationally and worldwide, as well as help mental health professionals treat different mental health disorders more effectively for correctional officers.