In American Jails Magazine - Mental Health and Wellness Programs for Jail Correctional Officers: What the Research Shows (A Scoping Review)

Correctional officers’ work in jails is demanding, unpredictable, and often stressful. Over time, chronic stress can affect safety, decision-making, health, and retention. To support officers and strengthen operations, many agencies are exploring wellness programs—but it can be hard to know what has been tested in jail or detention settings.
 
We conducted a scoping review (a structured scan of the published research) to identify peer-reviewed studies that evaluated mental health or wellness programs specifically with correctional officers working in U.S. jails or detention environments. Out of 1,246,206 records retrieved, 1,246,116 were triaged as out of scope prior to screening. Of the remaining 90, 71 were excluded at title review (duplicates; prison or police-only; nonintervention; international). Nineteen proceeded to abstract screening; five were excluded (three not specific to COs; two literature syntheses/toolkits).