Provincial correctional workers: Suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts

Correctional service workers report stressful work environments that include repeated exposures to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs), shift work and long working hours, and pervasive unpredictability of threat, which may increase their risk for mental disorders and death by suicide. Correctional workers include all persons employed in the community (e.g., probation and parole officers), institutional (e.g., correctional officers, prison health care, and supervisors), and administrative (e.g., headquarters) settings. Little is known about the variation in the prevalence of suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts among correctional workers serving in specific occupational roles with different sociodemographic backgrounds. The present study was designed to provide estimates of past-year and lifetime suicidal thoughts, planning, and attempts among a large and diverse sample of Canadian correctional workers serving in a provincial correctional service. Participants (n = 974, 51.4% female) completed an online survey that included measures of suicidal behavior. A substantial proportion of the overall sample reported past-year or lifetime suicidal ideation (7.0%, 26.6%), planning (2.6%, 11.9%), and attempts (n/a, 5.2%), with rates considerably higher than general population estimates. Specific sociodemographic variables (i.e., sex, age, education, and marital status) were associated with past-year and lifetime suicidal behaviors. The results appear to be the first Canadian-specific Public Safety Personnel (PSP) suicide data that describe diverse professionals working in provincial correctional facilities. The estimates of suicidal behavior rates among provincial correctional workers obtained in the present study provide valuable information for clinicians and correctional organizations to direct programming for prevention, treatment, and future research with Canadian correctional workers.