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ABSTRACTCorrectional services are plagued by poor staff retention, shortages, and high rates of turnover, which represent costly challenges for recruitment, training, and administration. Central to addressing challenges of correctional officer retention and staffing shortages is insight into what motivates individuals to pursue a career in correctional services. Although researchers have looked at the motivations of correctional officers entering the Canadian provincial system, researchers have yet to study the motivations of individuals’ entering the field of correctional services in the Canadian federal correctional system. In the current exploratory study, we apply Herzberg’s theory to investigate federal correctional officer recruits’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations toward becoming correctional officers with the Correctional Service of Canada. By drawing on the voices of recruits (N = 70) interviewed prior to the start of their employment, we thematically examined their rationales for seeking employment as federal correctional officers, their career aspirations, and their expectations about the correctional officer job. Our examination identified three overarching themes: the first tied more purely to extrinsic motivations, the second purely intrinsic, and the third more closely resembled a “drifting” phenomenon. We discuss the results in the context of officer recruitment and retention.

Police services have frequent contact with people living with mental disorders, substance misuse, or homelessness. This paper describes a specialized service within a police service in Ontario, Canada, aimed to support the needs of these vulnerable individuals. Implications for police services considering implementing a similar program are discussed.

There has been a call for a paradigm shift in mental health to be more recovery-oriented and include service users in the development and delivery of services. Although co-production has been linked with positive outcomes, more work is needed to understand this approach in Canada. The current study assessed the outcomes of a co-production initiative for service design and delivery. The data yielded positive outcomes—both for facilitators and group participants—in two broad areas: related to personal recovery and positive attitudes toward the organization. This study provides support for co-production in mental health programming and further elucidation of this approach for mental healthcare settings in Canada.

Postsecondary students frequently report high rates of anxiety and poor sleep quality. The association between poor sleep quality and anxiety is poorly understood in this population. We conducted a cross-sectional study of students enrolled in two faculties at Ontario Tech University (OTU) - Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) and Faculty of Education (FEd), and students attending the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) during the fall of 2017 to determine the prevalence of poor sleep quality and moderate to extremely severe anxiety, as well as the association between them. Participants completed self-report questionnaires to measure sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]), anxiety (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale – 21 Items [DASS-21]), socio-demographic, lifestyle and health-related variables. Multivariable logistic regression was used to measure the association between poor sleep quality and moderate to extremely severe anxiety, as well as to control for covariates. A significant correlation between PSQI scores and DASS-21 anxiety scores was found in both populations: students who reported poor sleep quality were more likely to report moderate to extremely severe anxiety. This association decreased but still remained high even after controlling for important covariates (i.e., biological sex, stress, and depression).

Purpose: The growing prison population and challenges related to recruiting and retaining suitable correctional officers (COs) in Canada provided the impetus for the current study. Recruitment efforts in provinces and territories often rely on a variety of diverse testing, ranging from physical fitness to in-person interviews. However, despite such efforts, turn-over rates remain high and insight into what motivates people to seek a career in correctional work continues to require elucidation. By investigating the career development of COs, the purpose of this paper is to understand why certain men seek employment in this field. Design/methodology/approach: Data are derived from in-depth semi-structured interviews with male officers (n=41) who have employment experience in provincial correctional facilities. Findings: Respondents discussed their initial motivations for entering the field and their career ambitions. Some entered corrections because they lacked alternative options for employment, others as a stepping stone for a different justice-oriented occupation such as policing or parole. Many were motivated by the income and benefits or had a specific vocational self-identity toward correctional work. However, nearly all respondents indicated that, over time, they no longer felt their rate of pay justly reflected the demands of the occupation, thus factors motivating field entry fail to materialize in ways that sustain long-term employee retention. Practical implications: CO recruitment should target individuals with interest in the field of justice more broadly. Occupational demands of the CO occupation need to be addressed to reduce turnover. Recruitment should focus not only on new graduates but also be directed toward more mature individuals. The impact of resource intensive interview processes for candidates on turnover rates needs to be evaluated. Originality/value: The authors’ focus on COs with employment experience in provincial and territorial correctional facilities, rather than federal, is justified by the lack of research on and the high rate of CO turnover in such facilities. After exploring the qualitative responses of officers, clear themes emerged that align well with natural socio-ecological systems: the self, family and community, and wider society.

In a field traditionally fraught with pessimistic expectations and lower client satisfaction, recoveryin mental health care is a beacon of light guiding practitioners and clients alike toward a more hopeful, optimistic future where possibility exists. An important component of the recovery model is the inclusion of service users in the management of their illness, developing wellness, and treatment planning. However, recovery in mental health is a relatively young theoretical and philosophical approach: efforts to shift from philosophy and theory to actual system change within the Canadian mental healthcare system have proven challenging. In our experience implementing a recovery-oriented program to support service users to co-design and co-deliver wellness groups, we learned about our hospital’s readiness for transformational system change and the specific needs with regard to this type of change. The purpose of this article is to describe our process, and share our successes and obstacles in order to inspire and support others who are interested in attempting to incorporate recovery-oriented practices into their settings.

Despite the high prevalence of mental disorders among Canadian police officers, treatment-seeking is lower than expected. Toward understanding how mental health services can be tailored for higher utilization by police, we aim to uncover factors that contribute to stigma and barriers to use, specifically within the context of group dynamics between officers. Nine semi-structured focus groups and one interview were conducted with civilian and non-civilian police service employees in Ontario, Canada. Data were coded to allow for themes to emerge from the transcripts. Participant voices (n=33) revealed the presence of three characteristics of Janis’ groupthink: high group cohesion, conditions that create high stress and low self-esteem, and operating under directive leadership; each creating pressures that serve as barriers to treatment-seeking [Janis IL (1972) Victims of Groupthink: A Psychological Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions And Fiascoes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin]. Groupthink offers a potential explanation about why police, despite a high prevalence of mental disorders and access to mental health services, do not seek treatment as expected. Janis’s theory of groupthink is supported by police officer dialogue in focus groups. Understanding police group interactions can better inform prevention and treatment programs, ultimately leading to better access and use of existing mental health services, a reduction in stigma associated with treatment-seeking, and a healthier police workforce.

Background Documentation of mental health care is a critical component of nursing practice. Despite being identified as playing a critical role, researchers continue to question the quality of nursing documentation and missing and/or inaccurate information.Purpose Our aim is to explore the content of nursing documentation among mental health nurses providing care to forensic inpatients.Methods Using a constructed semi-grounded emergent theme approach for data analysis, we reviewed the types of activities, subjects, and interactions described within nursing notes and identified themes of the content.Results Our results demonstrate that nursing documentation could be categorized into one of seven themes: interactions, food, activities, sleep, mental health, physical health and hygiene. These areas were not consistent with the recommendations from nursing bodies in Canada, specifically the areas of assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Furthermore, missing in the nursing notes is context.Conclusions The discussion highlights the importance of nursing documentation within the context of best practice, bias, and the impact on patient care. We also discuss missing information (context, clinical relevance, and case conceptualization), and suggest that nurses are not injecting this expertise in patient notes. Clinical implications for documentation practices are presented in relation to education and reflective practice.