NCJ Number
155604
Journal
Forum on Corrections Research Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Dated: May 1995 Pages: 40-42
Date Published
May 1995
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article reviews Canadian research on the impact of working rotating shifts on the family life of correctional staff.
Abstract
A national examination of the working hours of correctional officers within the Correctional Service of Canada led to two recent research projects. The first involved interviews with a small sample of correctional officers to determine what they liked and disliked about the current shift system. Staff concerns expressed were lack of time with school-aged children, limited time with young children when working the day shift, lack of time with family when working weekends, restricted ability to participate in extended family activities, family members' lack of understanding of the limited flexibility of shift work, and the difficulty of having time alone with a spouse because of differences in days off. The second research project analyzed responses to a series of shift-work-related questions from the 1994 national staff survey. The findings suggest that the negative effects of shift work on relationships with family and friends may lead to greater work-related stress and a decrease in job satisfaction. Suggestions for reducing the impact of shift work on family life include training programs on how to deal with shift work, designing shift schedules so as to reduce the effect of rotating shift work, and scheduling longer shifts to allow more days at home with the family. 1 figure and 1 footnote