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Natasha Frost Receives Nearly $1M to Study High Rates of Suicide Among Correctional Officers

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The National Institute of Justice awarded Criminology Professor Natasha Frost (PI) $996,440 for her project Impact of Organizational Stressors on Health and Wellness: A Longitudinal Study of Occupational Stress, Trauma Exposure, Psychological Distress, and Suicide Risk among Correction Officers. Frost will work alongside partners at the Massachusetts Department of Corrections and former SCCJ doctoral student Carlos Monteiro.

Correction officers die by suicide at rates that are significantly higher than the rates of suicide in the general population and the rates among other public safety personnel. In the proposed research, we provide the first longitudinal study of occupational stress, trauma exposure, psychological distress, and suicide risk among newly hired correction officers. Our primary goal in this research is to distinguish the short and long term impacts of chronic operational and organizational stressors from the short and long term impacts of acute episodic stressors related to exposure to violence and traumatic incidents. We hypothesize that both have implications for officer health and wellness and propose to assess the independent and cumulative effects of each on a comprehensive set of measures of health, safety, and wellbeing of officers over time, controlling for the mediating and moderating effects of coping skills, social networks, and social supports.

Congratulations Professor Natasha Frost and partners!

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