title: Work ability, psychosocial hazards and work experience in prison environments.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Work ability is predicted by age- and work-related psychosocial hazards; however, its association with work experience has not been studied. Work ability has not been studied in prison environments as well.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe work ability and its associates among prison workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was carried out in two prisons in Spain, one large and one medium prison, randomly selected from 17 in total. Prison workers were randomly administered a voluntary anonymous questionnaire to measure work ability [Work Ability Index (WAI)], work-related psychosocial hazards (Spanish version of COPSOQ), sociodemographic, lifestyle and work-related variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four hundred and forty-one workers (54%) participated. Results confirmed that older and more experienced workers (analysis of variance analysis) and workers in large prisons (t-student) presented significantly lower WAI scores. Quantitative and emotional demands, family work conflict, low work control, low autonomy, low social support from colleagues and stress had negative significant associations with WAI. Age, which highly correlated with work experience (Spearman's r = 0.85), had significant association with WAI (beta = -0.62). In the stepwise linear regression, the association between age and WAI lost statistical significance after controlling for work experience, which maintained significant correlation with WAI (beta = -0.37).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The apparent association between age and WAI was confounded by work experience. Interventions to improve work ability among prison workers may benefit from results of this study to focus their efforts on the risk groups in such a psychologically demanding work environment rarely examined in previous research.
authors: Public Health Research Group, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain. alidarwin@hotmail.com
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Ghaddar
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Ronda
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Nolasco
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health; D011330:Prisons; D012931:Social Environment; D013030:Spain; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation