Burnout and quality of life among correctional officers in a women's correctional facility.

INTRODUCTION

The correctional officer career is considered a stressful and risky occupation that can affect the mental health of workers due to stress and burnout; this syndrome presents itself with physical, psychological, behavioral, and defensive symptoms, ultimately affecting quality of life.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the sociodemographic profile, burnout levels, and quality of life of female correctional officers in a women's correctional facility, as well as to verify possible correlations between these variables.

METHODS

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study performed in a women's correctional facility located in Aquiraz, in the state of Ceará, through the use of 3 evaluation instruments: the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, the abbreviated version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life instrument, and a general information questionnaire.

RESULTS

Most of the correctional officers were married or cohabiting, aged between 31 and 40 years old, with complete or partial undergraduate education, and at least 1 child. In the burnout investigation, mean scores were 1.9±1.43, indicating a moderate level of burnout. Regarding quality of life, the environment domain presented the lowest scores (57.34%). We observed a correlation between burnout and quality of life, in which the higher the burnout scores, the lower the quality of life reported by correctional officers.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data demonstrate that correctional officers face a risk of developing burnout, thus affecting their quality of life; therefore, preventive health care measures are required for these professionals.