Abstract:
This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to determine prevalence and the related factors of occupational stress among correctional office in maximum security prisons; Bangkwang Central Prison and Klong Prem Central Prison. Data were obtained by self-administered questionnaires that consist of personal factors, work-related factors, psychosocial work factors, occupational stress from Thai version of the Job Content Questionnaire (Thai-JCQ) and coping inventory questionnaire. Total of 217 correctional officers were selected by stratified and convenient sampling. Descriptive data was analyzed in the form of frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. Chi-square and independent t-test were used to determine association between occupational stress and related factors. The findings showed that most of respondents were male and married. Mean age was 43±9.90 years. Most of them (74.1%) had monthly salary ranging from higher than 15,000 baht to higher than 30,000 baht and graduated with bachelors degree (52.5%). Their work experiences in maximum security prison were 15.10±10.04 years. The prevalence of occupational stress among correctional officers was 22.6%. The results also revealed that occupational stress were significantly related to education level (p-value=0.018), amounts of weekly exercise (p-value=0.014), social support (p-value<0.001), supervisor support (p-value<0.001), co-worker support (p-value<0.001) and job security (p-value<0.001). Regarding stress coping, the results demonstrated that 83.9 % of respondents used the active coping with combination of problem-focused and emotion-focused technique at a high level. The authors recommend that the organization use supervisor and co-worker support factors as a guideline to manage and prevent occupational stress of correctional officers in maximum security prisons. Creating a better relationship between supervisors and co-worker should be promoted.