Stress Perception and Mental Health of Juvenile Facility Workers

– Partial Results of Research Carried Out in Three Hungarian Juvenile Correctional Facilities

Abstract

Correctional education takes place within closed institutional frameworks, therefore the
personal motivation and cooperation of the students is not always given, which means
challenging work for those who deal with them. Unexpected, stressful situations can therefore
be common during correctional institution work. The purpose of my research is to explore
these difficulties in connection with the mental state of the workers.
I used validated tests for the data collection, the indicators related to the individual psychological
characteristics of the participants in the study (n = 41), and I examined correctional institutionspecific
workplace stressors with my own questionnaire.
Based on the first results, it can be seen that the respondents are in a good mental state
overall, their resilience level is above the Hungarian average (M = 77.97; SD = 12.05). At the
same time, a high number of stressful life events (M = 210.87; SD = 180.89) is associated with
an increase in anxiety (p < 0.001; r = 0.668; tau-b = 0.525). The sense of usefulness of work
subscale shows a high value (M = 63.68; SD = 9.01), which shows an opposite association with
state anxiety (p = 0.005; r = −0.432; tau-b = −0.237), and an opposite association with the
emotional exhaustion subscale of burnout (p = 0.004; r = −0.435; tau-b = −0.401). Those who
feel competent in their work are expected to have a lower burnout depersonalisation factor
(p < 0.001; r = −0.591; tau-b = −0.471).
Overall, it can be seen that resilient workers are less likely to develop mental problems,
so effective development of workers is very important, since success in support work also
determines the long-term quality of work.