Work-related wellbeing in UK prison officers: a benchmarking approach

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine the well-being of UK prison officers by utilising a benchmarking approach. Design/methodology/approach-The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Stress Indicator Tool is widely used in the UK to assess key psychosocial hazards in the workplace encompassing demands, control, support from managers and co-workers, relationship quality, role and change management. This study utilises this approach to examine the extent to which a sample of UK prison officers meets the HSE recommended minimum standards for the management of work-related well-being. Levels of mental health and job satisfaction in the sector are also assessed using measures with extensive occupational norms. The psychosocial hazards that make the strongest contribution to mental health and job satisfaction are also considered. Findings-Respondents reported lower levels of well-being for all of the hazard categories than recommended. Moreover, mental health and job satisfaction were considerably poorer among prison officers than other occupational groups within the emergency and security services in the UK. Considerable variation was found in the psychosocial hazards that predicted mental health and job satisfaction. Practical implications-The high levels of stressors and strains experienced by UK prison officers gives serious cause for concern. Priority areas for interventions to enhance well-being in the sector are considered and areas for future research discussed. Originality/value-This study highlights the wide-ranging benefits of a benchmarking approach to investigate work-related stressors and strains at the sector level

Reflections on the implementation of the Gifted and Talented policy in England, 1999–2011

This paper, as part of an on-going study looking at the impact of gifted and talented policies on an inner-city school, explores the role of the local authority in implementing the various gifted and talented initiatives since 1999, when local authority gifted and talented co-ordinators were first appointed under the Excellence in Cities (DfEE, 1999) programme

Reflections on the implementation of the Gifted and Talented policy in England, 1999–2011

This paper, as part of an on-going study looking at the impact of gifted and talented policies on an inner-city school, explores the role of the local authority in implementing the various gifted and talented initiatives since 1999, when local authority gifted and talented co-ordinators were first appointed under the Excellence in Cities (DfEE, 1999) programme

Applying the Lessons of Tobacco and Alcohol Control to Cannabis

It is clear there is agreement on numerous issues. First, cannabis is associated with psychosis, although there is some divergence on the degree of certainty about direct causality, especially in chronic psychosis. Second, reliance on a single legal remedy has been ineffective. Third, education should play a greater role in strategies to tackle cannabis use

eJournal interface can influence usage statistics: implications for libraries, publishers, and Project COUNTER

The design of a publisher's electronic interface can have a measurable effect on electronic journal usage statistics. A study of journal usage from six COUNTER-compliant publishers at thirty-two research institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden indicates that the ratio of PDF to HTML views is not consistent across publisher interfaces, even after controlling for differences in publisher content. The number of fulltext downloads may be artificially inflated when publishers require users to view HTML versions before accessing PDF versions or when linking mechanisms, such as CrossRef, direct users to the full text, rather than the abstract, of each article. These results suggest that usage reports from COUNTER-compliant publishers are not directly comparable in their current form. One solution may be to modify publisher numbers with adjustment factors deemed to be representative of the benefit or disadvantage due to its interface. Standardization of some interface and linking protocols may obviate these differences and allow for more accurate cross-publisher comparisons.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures. JASIST (in press, 2006