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The mental wellbeing of prison staff in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is likely to have had an impact on the mental wellbeing of prison staff because of the high risk for infectious disease outbreaks in prisons and the pre-existing high burden of mental health issues among staff. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of staff within 26 prisons in Engla...

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Autores principales: Johnson, Luke, Czachorowski, Maciej, Gutridge, Kerry, McGrath, Nuala, Parkes, Julie, Plugge, Emma
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10020237/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36935673
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1049497
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author Johnson, Luke
Czachorowski, Maciej
Gutridge, Kerry
McGrath, Nuala
Parkes, Julie
Plugge, Emma
author_facet Johnson, Luke
Czachorowski, Maciej
Gutridge, Kerry
McGrath, Nuala
Parkes, Julie
Plugge, Emma
author_sort Johnson, Luke
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is likely to have had an impact on the mental wellbeing of prison staff because of the high risk for infectious disease outbreaks in prisons and the pre-existing high burden of mental health issues among staff. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of staff within 26 prisons in England was carried out between 20th July 2020 and 2nd October 2020. Mental wellbeing was measured using the Short-version of Warwick-Edinburgh Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). Staff wellbeing was compared to that of the English population using indirectly standardised data from the Health Survey for England 2010–13 and a one-sample t-test. Multivariate linear regression modelling explored associations with mental wellbeing score. RESULTS: Two thousand five hundred and thirty-four individuals were included (response rate 22.2%). The mean age was 44 years, 53% were female, and 93% were white. The sample mean SWEMWBS score was 23.84 and the standardised population mean score was 23.57. The difference in means was statistically significant (95% CI 0.09–0.46), but not of a clinically meaningful level. The multivariate linear regression model was adjusted for age category, sex, ethnicity, smoking status, occupation, and prison service region. Higher wellbeing was significantly associated with older age, male sex, Black/Black British ethnicity, never having smoked, working within the health staff team, and working in certain prison regions. INTERPRETATION: Unexpectedly, prison staff wellbeing as measured by SWEMWBS was similar to that of the general population. Reasons for this are unclear but could include the reduction in violence within prisons since the start of the pandemic. Qualitative research across a diverse sample of prison settings would enrich understanding of staff wellbeing within the pandemic.
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spelling pubmed-100202372023-03-18 The mental wellbeing of prison staff in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study Johnson, Luke Czachorowski, Maciej Gutridge, Kerry McGrath, Nuala Parkes, Julie Plugge, Emma Front Public Health Public Health BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is likely to have had an impact on the mental wellbeing of prison staff because of the high risk for infectious disease outbreaks in prisons and the pre-existing high burden of mental health issues among staff. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of staff within 26 prisons in England was carried out between 20th July 2020 and 2nd October 2020. Mental wellbeing was measured using the Short-version of Warwick-Edinburgh Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS). Staff wellbeing was compared to that of the English population using indirectly standardised data from the Health Survey for England 2010–13 and a one-sample t-test. Multivariate linear regression modelling explored associations with mental wellbeing score. RESULTS: Two thousand five hundred and thirty-four individuals were included (response rate 22.2%). The mean age was 44 years, 53% were female, and 93% were white. The sample mean SWEMWBS score was 23.84 and the standardised population mean score was 23.57. The difference in means was statistically significant (95% CI 0.09–0.46), but not of a clinically meaningful level. The multivariate linear regression model was adjusted for age category, sex, ethnicity, smoking status, occupation, and prison service region. Higher wellbeing was significantly associated with older age, male sex, Black/Black British ethnicity, never having smoked, working within the health staff team, and working in certain prison regions. INTERPRETATION: Unexpectedly, prison staff wellbeing as measured by SWEMWBS was similar to that of the general population. Reasons for this are unclear but could include the reduction in violence within prisons since the start of the pandemic. Qualitative research across a diverse sample of prison settings would enrich understanding of staff wellbeing within the pandemic. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-03-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10020237/ /pubmed/36935673 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1049497 Text en Copyright © 2023 Johnson, Czachorowski, Gutridge, McGrath, Parkes and Plugge. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Johnson, Luke
Czachorowski, Maciej
Gutridge, Kerry
McGrath, Nuala
Parkes, Julie
Plugge, Emma
The mental wellbeing of prison staff in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study
title The mental wellbeing of prison staff in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study
title_full The mental wellbeing of prison staff in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study
title_fullStr The mental wellbeing of prison staff in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study
title_full_unstemmed The mental wellbeing of prison staff in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study
title_short The mental wellbeing of prison staff in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study
title_sort mental wellbeing of prison staff in england during the covid-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10020237/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36935673
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1049497
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