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Doctoral Research Assistant - The Climate and Culture of Corrections

Assist in the collection of quantitative and qualitative data related to planned change in corrections. Much of the data is collected off-site at the Massachusetts Department of Correction.

  • Location:

    Boston and off-site at the Massachusetts Department of Correction

  • Semester:

    Summer 2026

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  • Project Title

    The Climate and Culture of Corrections

  • Faculty / Project Lead

    Natasha Frost

  • Project Description

    This research investigates the links between occupational culture, perceptions of climate, and officer wellbeing. More specifically, this research will help administrators understand how correction work as currently structured, with its overreliance on seniority, uncompromising shifts, mandated overtime, opaque disciplinary processes, and rigid promotion structures, has elicited and sustained an occupational culture that has negatively affected officers’ physical and mental wellbeing. Most importantly, we endeavor to show how fundamentally shifting the occupational workplace culture could generate immediate and long-term benefits for correctional organizations. This is a four-year study evaluating the implementation of co-created organizational change designed to fundamentally shift entrenched occupational policies and departmental procedures and assess the impact of that organizational change on an array of officer health and wellness outcomes.

  • Hours per Week

    20 Hour Position