Risk factors and coping strategies for occupational stress among prison officers in Nairobi county in Kenya
Loading...
Date
2013
Authors
Gatebi, Sophia
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Occupational stress has been considered a major problem in the service industry. It affects the
health of employees and also reduces the work productivity of an organization. It is predicted
that by the year 2020, stress will be a major cause of workplace ill health in the world if no
precaution is taken against the problem. Statistics indicate that majority of prison. officers,
like most other workers, go through major stress. Limited studies have been done on risk
factors and coping strategies for occupational stress among male and female prison officers.
The current study sought to. investigate whether there are male and female differences with
regard to experiencing of work-related stress, risk factors for occupational stress and coping
strategies among male and female prison officers in Nairobi County. The study was guided
by the Effort-Reward Imbalance theory which forms the basis of the study.The study used
descriptive survey design.The target population for the study were the prison officers in all
the 6 prisons in Nairobi County. Multistage sampling approach, combining purposive
sampling for prisons and stratified random sampling for prison officers was used to obtain the
required sample of 114 respondents. A questionnaire was used to collect data which was
analyzed using descriptive statistics. Frequencies, percentages and graphs were used to
present the data. The study provided data on risk factors and coping strategies for
occupational stress specific for male and female prison officers in Nairobi County prisons.
The study found that majority of prison officers were stressed in the work place due to
occupational stress or sand this affected their social life, health and productivity. Sharing of
houses was highly reported by the prison officers as the major risk factor causing high
occupational stress closely followed by housing conditions, working under pressure,
availability of job promotions, risking being injured on the job, and working conditions. As
much as positive coping strategies are used by majority of the prison officers, the study
findings indicate that there are a large number of prison officers who use negative coping
strategies for occupational stress such as taking a lot of alcohol, drug abuse and peddling,
absenteeism from work while others are in perseverance of the stress. According to the study
fmdings, majority of the officers felt that causes of occupational stress can be alleviated
through several measures such as improving working conditions, increasing the number of
houses, avoiding pressure to juniors, providing counselling services, and time
management.The data may be useful to policy makers and implementers in the prisons
department by providing evidence that may inform the development and implementation of
policies focusing on the unique needs of both male and female prison officers with regard to
prevention and reduction of stress.
Description
Department of Psychology, 78p. 2013