Affiliations: [a] Departamento de Ciências Psicológicas & William James Center for Research, ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal
| [b] Florida State University, College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| [c] Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Departamento de Alimentos e Nutrição, Universidade Estadual Paulista. Araraquara, São Paulo, Brasil
| [d] Faculdade de Odontologia de Araraquara, Departamento de Odontologia Social, Universidade Estadual Paulista. Araraquara, São Paulo, Brasil
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos, Faculdade de Ciências Farmaceuticas, Departamento de Alimentos e Nutrição, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rodovia Araraqura-Jaú, km 01, 14801-903. Araraquara, São Paulo, Brasil. Tel.: +55 16 3301 6358; E-mail: jucampos@fcfar.unesp.br.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: In the correctional context, occupational characteristics may contribute to the development of burnout. OBJECTIVE: To compare the scores of Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Cynicism (CY) and Professional Efficacy (PE) of staff members according to occupational variables in two correctional facilities (CF1 and CF2). METHODS: 339 Brazilian employees from two correctional facilities completed a socio-demographic/occupational questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey (MBI-GS). The comparison between the scores obtained on each MBI-GS factor, according to variables of interest vs. correctional facilities, was performed using analysis of variance (ANOVA-two way: p < 0.05). RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were observed between the levels of EE, CY and PE between the correctional facilities (p < 0.001); staff from CF2 presented worse levels. Women (p = 0.014) and individuals with a 10-year tenure or higher (p = 0.041) presented higher levels of EE. Lower scores of professional efficacy were found in CF2 staff members with a 10-year tenure or higher (p = 0.018). The prison escort and surveillance agents presented mean values of EE (p = 0.030) and CY (p = 0.008) that were significantly lower than those of the correctional security officers. CONCLUSIONS: The scores of EE, CY and PE of the staff members suffered a significant influence from the correctional facility, gender, professional category and tenure.
Keywords: Prison employees, professional exhaustion, occupational characteristics
