Psychological well-being of correctional officers in Ibadan, Oyo State of Nigeria: predictive influence of job stress and job satisfaction

Abstract

It has been observed that correctional officers in Nigeria usually experience psychological related issues such as anxiety, self-consciousness, depression, emotional vulnerability and poor quality of life and these related issues could be linked to the observable increased low productivity, physical morbidity, reduced quality and duration of life and frequent visitation to health care centers among the officers. These aforementioned psychological related issues also have an implication on poor quality of life and maladjusted behaviours among inmates. This informed the direction of this study to examine the psychological well-being of correctional officers in prisons and its influencing factors. The study utilized cross-sectional research design which involves the use of self-report questionnaire for data collection. A total number of two hundred and seven (207) correctional officers participated in the study. Results outcomes shows that job stress and job satisfaction had significant joint influence on psychological well-being of correctional officers in Ibadan, Oyo State of Nigeria [F(2,204)=49.12; p<0.05; R=0.57, R2=0.33]. Also, it was discovered that job stress and job satisfaction made significant independent contribution to correctional officers’ psychological well-being in Ibadan, Oyo State of Nigeria (b= 0.26; t = 4.14; p<0.05, b=-0.40; t = 6.35; p<0.05). The study concluded that there was a significant independent and joint influence of job stress and job satisfaction on the selected correctional officers’ psychological well-being, and it was recommended that prison service, counseling psychologists, clinical psychologists and health related professionals should take cognizance of job stress and job satisfaction in the development of any intervention that will be designed to improve the psychological wellbeing of correctional officers