Correctional officers are being asked to do more than ever — maintain order, enforce rules and, increasingly, understand the role trauma plays in inmate behavior. A new research study is looking to hear directly from the officers doing that work every day.
A PhD student at Fielding Graduate University is seeking responses from current correctional officers for a survey examining attitudes toward trauma-informed practices and workplace experiences. The goal: better understand how organizational support and on-the-job realities shape the way officers approach their work.
The anonymous online survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and includes questions on professional identity, workplace fairness, supervision and perspectives on working with offenders.
That mix of topics could make the survey especially relevant for officers who have watched expectations shift in recent years as trauma-informed care becomes a bigger part of the conversation in corrections.
The questionnaire asks about rank, years on the job, shift assignment and experience in specialized units. It also includes questions about how officers view their role, whether they feel connected to the profession and how they see interactions with supervisors and administrators.
Some questions get more directly at the debate many officers know well: whether working with offenders who have trauma histories is best approached through healthy, healing relationships or through rules and consequences. Other items ask about attitudes toward offender behavior, workplace stress and whether officers feel they can talk openly about strong feelings tied to the job.
For officers who have opinions about what works, what does not and how policy looks different on the floor than it does in theory, the survey offers a chance to put that perspective on the record.
The survey platform does not collect identifying information or IP addresses, and employers will not receive names or individual responses. The research is intended to help expand understanding of what correctional officers experience on the job.
To participate in the survey, click here.
