The relationship between burnout and support for punishment and treatment: a preliminary examination.

According to the existing literature, support for punishment and support for treatment of inmates are the two major orientations held by correctional workers. There is a small but growing body of studies that has examined the predictors of these orientations. The literature suggests that personal characteristics account for little of the variance in correctional orientations whereas individual-level perceptions of work environment factors are related to correctional orientations; however, the effects of job burnout have not been explored. This study investigates the relationship between burnout and the two correctional orientations. Burnout has three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and ineffectiveness. This study finds that depersonalization is positively related to support for punishment and negatively related to support for treatment. Ineffectiveness leads to a lower support for treatment whereas emotional exhaustion leads to a higher support for treatment.