International Journal of Psychology and Psychiatry
Year : 2014, Volume : 2, Issue : 1
First page : ( 1) Last page : ( 6)
Online ISSN : 2320-6233.
Article DOI : 10.5958/j.2320-6233.2.1.001

Assessment of Stress among Prison Staff- A Comparative Study of Warders and Officers, and Select Demographic Variables

Kumar P. Pradeep, Research Scholar, Nagarajamurthy B., Associate Professor

Department of Studies in Criminology & Forensic Science, Maharaja's College, University of Mysore, Mysore, Karnataka, India

Online published on 3 April, 2014.

Abstract

In the present study an attempt is made to assess the extent of stress experienced by prison staff working in Central prisons of Karnataka. A total of 432 prison staff with 14 officers and 418 warders were randomly selected for the study. They were administered a structured questionnaire prepared by the first author on stress experienced at work place and related aspects. Data were collected in one setting by asking the respondents to complete the questionnaire prepared by the researcher. The data were analysed through descriptive statistics, test-independent samples and one way ANOVA. Results revealed that on the whole prison staff experience high levels of stress, further officers as prison staff experienced significantly higher stress than warders. Female prison staff had significantly higher stress than male prison staff. Prison staff with lower age groups experienced significantly lesser stress compared to prison staff with higher age groups. Lower levels of education of prison staff lead to less stress compared to higher education of prison staff. Marital status significantly influenced the stress among prison staff, where married staff experienced more stress than unmarried prison staff. Various modes of decreasing the stress among prison staff and increasing their quality of life have been delineated.

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Keywords

Officer, Prison Staff, Stress, Warder.

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