Sources of occupational stress: An examination of British prison officers

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify the major sources of occupational stress experienced by British prison officers and to examine their effects on overall job stress and job satisfaction. Eighty-one officers from HM Prison, Maidstone, took part in a questionnaire study, and three main findings emerged. First, lack of stiff and resources were ranked as the most likely sources of stress, and areas of the prison where confrontations with inmates were most likely to occur were ranked as the most stressful locations. Second, officers who reported the highest levels of job stress overall had the lowest job satisfaction and the greatest wish for more emphasis on control and security of inmates. Third, when the sources of stress were factor-analysed and used to predict overall job stress and job satisfaction, using multiple regression, the sìngle most important predictor of job stress was found to be the factor labelled 'confrontations with inmates' and, for dissatisfaction with the job, it was 'poor morale and resentments'. The paper discusses the theoretical implications of the findings.     

“Don’t Ask,Don’t Tell,Don’t Pursue”: A Critical Examination

President Clinton, in announcing his policy concerning the service of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, referred to the policy as an “honorable compromise.” Dubbed, “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue,” the policy states that applicants for service will no longer be asked their sexual orientation. At the same time, the policy formally prohibits members from uttering statements or engaging in actions that identify them as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Finally, the policy offers new guidelines for investigating homosexuality in the military intended to allow gays, lesbians, and bisexuals to continue serving but only in secret. This paper examines closely the text of the new policy in terms of the “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue” provisions and concludes that, with few exceptions, there is little substantive difference between the Clinton policy and the former policy.     

Nurses: Training for new job demands

This paper argues that both the present and future job demands faced by nurses are likely to exceed the resources of the training which is currently provided for them. This argument will be supported by reference to the authors' studies of stress in nursing, as well as a variety of other sources. The common themes underlying reactions to both present and future demands include first, awareness of high stress levels to be found amongst nurses, and second, an emphasis on communication as both the problem and as the proposed solution. Common responses to these two themes are outlined, including training in stress management, and communication training. Some of the problems and unexamined assumptions (for example that hospital management actually wants to lower stress levels and improve communication in nursing) are examined. Some suggestions are made for developing training in health care contexts, to deal more adequately with likely future demands.     

A simultaneous equation model of economic development and income inequality

The paper extends existing work on inequality and economic development by estimating a cross-country structural model that identifies bi-directional relationships between income inequality and other indicators of social and economic development. Overall, lower inequality is associated with improvements in other development indicators, but this is the result of several complex interactions. The most striking feature of the structural model is the insight it provides into the reasons behind the negative ‘Africa dummy’ in previous cross-country growth studies.     

Migration and social change: a longitudinal study of the social mobility of ‘immigrants’ in England and Wales

Data from the OPCS Longitudinal Study is used to examine the social mobility of ‘immigrants’ in England and Wales between 1971 and 1981. Three issues are raised: (i) in what respects and to what degree do ‘immigrants’ differ in their social mobility characteristics from the norm set by the population as a whole?; (ii) in what respects and to what degree do ‘immigrants’ differ amongst themselves in their social mobility characteristics according to their country of origin?; and (iii) how do ‘second-generation immigrants’ and recently-arrived immigrants differ in their social class locations from those who have been in the British labour market for a considerable length of time?     

The Brain’s Reward Response Occurs Even Without Actual Reward!

What if the brain’s response to reward occurs even when there is no reward? Wouldn’t that be a further concern for people prone to problem gambling and other forms of addiction, like those related to eating? Electroencephalography was employed to investigate this possibility using probabilistic feedback manipulations and measures of known event-related potentials (ERPs) related to reward processing. We tested the hypothesis—that reward-based ERPs would occur even in the absence of a tangible reward and when manipulations on expectation are implicit. The well-known P300 response potential was a key focus, and was assessed in non-gambling volunteer undergraduates on a task involving experimentally-manipulated probabilities of positive or negative feedback comprising three trial types—80, 50, or 20% positive feedback. A feedback stimulus (F1) followed a guess response between two possible outcomes (implicit win/loss), and then a second feedback stimulus (F2) was presented to confirm an alleged ‘win’ or ‘loss’ (explicit win/loss). Results revealed that amplitude of the P300 in F1-locked data (implicit manipulation) was larger (more positive) on average for feedback outcomes that were manipulated to be less likely than expected. The effect is pronounced after increased time on task (later trials), even though the majority of participants were not explicitly aware of our probability manipulations. For the explicit effects in F2-locked data, no meaningful or significant effects were observed. These findings point to the existence of proposed success-response mechanisms that operate not only explicitly but also with implicit manipulations that do not involve any direct indication of a win or loss, and are not associated with tangible rewards. Thus, there seems to be a non-explicit form of perception (we call ‘implicit’) associated with an internal experience of wins/losses (in the absence of actual rewards or losses) that can be measured in associated brain processes. The potential significance of these findings is discussed in terms of implications for problem gambling.     

Why use arbitrary points scores?: ordered categories in models of educational progress

Much statistical modelling of random effects on ordered responses, particularly of grades in educational research, continues to use linear models and to treat the responses through arbitrary scores. Methodological and software developments now facilitate the proper treatment of such situations through more realistic generalized random-effects models. This paper reviews some methodological comparisons of these approaches. It highlights the flexibility offered by the macro facilities of the multilevel random-effects software MLwiN. It considers applications to an analysis of primary school educational progress from reception to England and Wales national curriculum key stage 1 mathematics. By contrasting the results from generalized modelling and scoring approaches it draws some conclusions about the theoretical, methodological and practical options that are available. It also considers that results of generalized random-model estimation may be more intelligible to users of analytical results.     

Avian Influenza Risk Perception and Live Poultry Purchase in Guangzhou, China, 2006

Human H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) infection is associated with intimate exposure to live poultry. Perceptions of risk can modify behaviors, influencing actual exposure. However, greater hazard is not necessarily followed by perception of greater risk and more precautionary behavior because self-serving cognitive biases modulate precautionary and hazardous behaviors. We examined risk perception associated with avian influenza. A total of 1,550 face-to-face within-household interviews and 1,760 telephone interviews were derived to study avian influenza risk perception and live poultry use in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, respectively. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests assessed bivariate associations and risk distributions, respectively, and fully adjusted multivariate logistic models determined independent risk associations. Relative to Hong Kong, perceived "generalized" risk from buying live poultry (GZ, 58%, 95% confidence interval 55–60% vs. HK, 41%, 39–43%; χ²= 86.95, df  = 1, p < 0.001) and perceived self/family risk from buying ( z  =−2.092, p  = 0.036) were higher in Guangzhou. Higher perceived "generalized" risk was associated with not buying live poultry (OR = 0.65, 0.49–0.85), consistent with the pattern seen in Hong Kong, while perceived higher self/family risk was associated with buying ("likely/very likely/certain" OR = 1.74, 1.18–2.59); no such association was seen in Hong Kong. Multivariate adjustment indicated older age was associated with buying live poultry in Guangzhou (OR = 2.91, 1.36–6.25). Guangzhou respondents perceived greater risk relative to Hong Kong. Buying live poultry was associated with perceptions of less "generalized" risk but more self/family risk. Higher generalized risk was associated with fewer live poultry purchases, suggesting generalized risk may be a useful indicator of precautionary HPAI risk behavior.