Examination of the Parameters Regarding The General Health Status of Prison Officers

The working conditions of prison officers are very stressful. Today, it is known that stress affects the health status of individuals in many ways. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the musculoskeletal system problems, fatigue severity, depression levels, and quality of life of prison officers and to examine the relationship between these parameters and the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants.The study included a total of 141 volunteers. The prison management allowed the collection of data online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.141 prison officers between the ages of 18 and 65, working in Mula E Type Closed Penitentiary Institution, having completed at least one year in the profession and volunteering to participate in the study, participated in the research. Individuals who had received physical therapy in the last three months, had undergone surgery for an orthopedic reason in the last year, and had used pain medication for the last 15 days were not included in the study. The musculoskeletal problems of the participants were evaluated with the Cornell Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire, fatigue levels were evaluated with the Fatigue Severity Scale, depression levels were evaluated with the Beck Depression Inventory, and quality of life was evaluated with the Nottingham Health Profile.

The Cornell Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire consists of Likert-type questions inquiring about the painful region, the severity of pain, and the level of impact on work life for an individual. A total of 12 regions, starting from the neck area to the foot area, are examined. Each body region is scored on a scale ranging from 0 to 90. The Fatigue Severity Scale consists of 9 questions, with the lowest score being 9 and the highest score being 63. If the average of the scores obtained from these 9 questions is above 4, it indicates pathological fatigue. Participants were asked to consider the time from going to bed to falling asleep, the frequency of waking up after falling asleep, and the total time spent asleep. The Beck Depression Inventory consists of 21 questions, each scored between 0 and 3. The scores obtained from the scale are categorized into four groups. In the classification of the severity of depression, up to 9 points are considered no depression, 10-16 points are considered mild, 17-29 points are considered moderate, and 30-63 points are considered severe depression. The cutoff score for depression is accepted as 17.