Speakers
Parallel Workshops
This mixed-methods study set out to test the assumption that prison officers can be classified into different prison officer types which shape staff-prisoner interactions and is related to staff burnout. The interview findings indicated that participants felt that prison officer types were applicable to the Irish Prison Service if people were fluid rather than rigid in what type they presented as, which could change depending on a variety of individual and external factors. Second, a novel person-centred latent profile analysis (LPA) of the survey data found quantitative evidence for four classes of prison officers. However, these classes appear more like a continuum of adaption to doing prison work rather than different types of prison officers. Third, the results of the LPA four-class model with covariates and distal outcomes showed statistically significant differences in the perceived quality of staff-prisoner relationships and staff-burnout between the four classes of prison officers, when other potentially confounding variables were controlled for. The findings offer valuable insights into how Irish prison officers can be better supported to achieve the ‘right’ kind of staff-prisoner relationships and reduce burnout.