Exploring Thailand's Probationary Practices Since COVID-19: Changes in Strategies with Regards to Probation Supervision

The COVID-19 pandemic had a critical impact on the Thai criminal justice system. The goal of this study is to explore policies and practices of Thailand's Department of Probation as it responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study surveyed probation officers in Thailand (N = 534) from March to April 2021, focusing on probation practices and case management issues prior- and post- COVID-19. Data reveals that, overall, the frequency of officer-offender contacts remained steady even though the type of contact changed after COVID-19. In-person contact was replaced by remote contact strategies, specifically telephone calls, which increased significantly following the onset of the pandemic.

Occupational burnout factors among correctional mental health providers

Burnout rates of correctional employees are higher than employees in the general public. The purpose of this study was to identify how occupational factors impact burnout rates among correctional mental health workers. Grounded in the job-demands theoretical model, this study compared burnout rates among mental health staff within county jails and state prisons. Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and Occupational factors were measured using the Areas of Work life Survey and Pandemic Experience and Perception Survey. Data was analyzed using IBM SSPS software to address multiple a priori directional research questions. Research questions considered how occupational factors impact burnout of this population. Key results indicated no significant difference in burnout rates among mental health providers, though found "workload" and "control" to be significant predictors of emotional exhaustion in both jails and prisons, and "reward" a significant predictor of personal accomplishment in prisons. "Risk perception" and "work life" were predictors of emotional exhaustion during a global pandemic. Future studies should expand the research on the variable "workload" with burnout and consider utilizing the demographic data collected to identify additional correlations. Implications for positive social change include prevention of burnout in correctional settings resulting in lower staff turnover, improved staff quality of life, and increased quality of treatment. Knowing the factors that contribute to burnout in these populations allows for intervention prior to burnout. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Gender-responsive probation during the covid-19 pandemic: Learning from justice-involved women and their supervising officers

In the Spring of 2020, the COVID19 pandemic forced community corrections agencies to adapt their day-to-day processes for supervising individuals and maintaining public safety. These forced adaptations allowed the authors to explore how these changes (i.e., tele-supervision) impacted women and those who supervised them at a probation agency in a large metropolitan county in a Western U.S. state. To date, limited research surrounds how COVID-related adaptations impacted gender-responsive, or women-centered, community supervision caseloads. To address this gap in the literature, the current study utilizes a qualitative approach to explore the experiences of 17 community corrections staff and clients on gender-responsive probation supervision during the pandemic. Their narratives suggest both positive outcomes (e.g., accessibility, reducing tendencies to over-supervise) and challenges (e.g., accountability, lacking a relational component) with tele-supervision and tele-treatment models. It is critical to utilize the lived experiences of those directly impacted by COVID-related changes, including community corrections staff and clients, to help shape gender-responsive supervision moving forward. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Problem-solving Covid-19: A qualitative inquiry into how correctional officers and administrators have responded to the dynamic problems of the coronavirus pandemic

Jail administrators and officers have been confronted with a number of workplace problems as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Ever since its emergence, they have been required to contain outbreaks of the virus, manage a correctional population that has grown increasingly frustrated over restrictions imposed on their movements, and contend with health protocols that have been in a constant state of fluctuation. This article commences the literature on how exactly jail staff have responded to these serious problems. Semistructured interview data collected from administrators and officers employed in a county-level jail located in the southeastern United States (N = 21) revealed how, to contain viral spread, respondents received the vaccine and wore masks at all times while working. Trauma-informed leadership was embraced by superiors to help their line-staff deal with the confusion created by constant health policy changes, while gentle communication styles were adopted to de-escalate potentially hostile interactions with detainees. Implications for correctional policy and practice are discussed in light of these findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Building accountability and client–officer relationships through videoconferencing: Exploring best practices for community corrections

The COVID-19 pandemic forced community corrections agencies worldwide to use remote technologies to prevent the spread of the virus. A growing body of the literature suggests that video-conferencing is poised to be a core practice within community correctional settings. However, little is known about the best practice strategies for incorporating videoconferencing into routine supervision. We address this gap by interviewing and conducting focus groups with a sample of community correction officers from the US (N = 16). We identified the presence of the law enforcement—social work dichotomy in remote settings, reflected in challenges and opportunities when holding clients accountable and establishing client–officer relationships. Our findings show that officers relying on evidence-based practices (EBPs) were able to use videoconferencing tools to overcome remote challenges. We suggest that establishing in-person relationships, adapting EBP, and taking care of logistics are critical steps to strengthen remote accountability and client–officer relationships. We conclude by discussing future research areas. © The Author(s) 2023.

Social media use and juvenile incarceration: Perspectives from mental health professionals and staff of juvenile correctional facilities

Social media has become pervasive in the lives of modern adolescents. Although social media may provide individuals with many positive opportunities for communication and learning, social media sites also may provide an outlet for youth conduct problems, such as bullying, harassment, and intentional hostility and aggression toward others. In recent years, more and more research has shown that overuse of social media can lead to negative mental health outcomes( Khine et al., 2020;Andreassen, 2015;Lin et al., 2016). Research also suggests that more childhood conduct disorder symptoms are significantly associated with greater daily social media use during emerging adulthood (Galica, 2017). Yet, the relationship between social media use and adolescent delinquent behavior has remained clear. At the same time, according to a 2016 nationwide study, U.S. law enforcement arrested around 1.3 million adolescents each year (Puzzanchera, 2014). To this end, countless juvenile detention counselors, probation officers, unit counselors and other staff have treated and rehabilitated youths who were criminal offenders in an effort to prevent future crimes. This study aimed to better understand how these professionals considered and potentially addressed social media use in their everyday work with adolescents within the juvenile justice system. This researcher developed a brief survey which explored correctional staff's perspectives on the impact of social media use on the adolescents with whom they worked;and ways in which they could intervene. Data was collected from February 2021 to October 2021, which was longer than expected as it occurred amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The study sample consisted of 28 juvenile correctional facilities staff members (ages 18 or older), primarily mental health counselors, who were currently working with or previously worked with juveniles within the criminal justice system. Participants were acquired through multiple outreach attempts via phone and email to various juvenile correctional facilities throughout California. A majority of participants agreed that social media played a pertinent role in juvenile delinquency where it acted as a facilitator or platform for criminal behavior, and many disclosed a willingness to intervene or had previously attempted to intervene around social media use in some capacity. This included (a) directly communicating with adolescents, (b) communicating with their parents/caregivers about social media use, (c) recommending social media restrictions as a condition of probation, or (d) simply monitoring or limiting social media use in their general recommendations. This study offered a modest preliminary effort to explore and highlight the need to better understand the connection between social media use and juvenile criminal behavior as well as to develop and enhance ways to intervene with respect to this connection. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Communicating veracity: The impact of emotion and multimodal resources for correcting online misinformation in older adults

This dissertation research project explored the impact of emotion (positive or negative) and presentational modality (text-only, multimodal, motion imbued styles) in correcting online misinformation for older adults. Using the theoretical foundation of the heuristic and systematic processing model, along with the emotion-based broaden and build and socioemotional selectivity theories, participants (N=302), in an online experiment, were exposed to social media misinformation rebuttals for two topics: that vaccines cause magnetism and COVID can be cured through the intake of vitamin supplements (such as Vitamin C or D). Results showcased the effectiveness of crafting positively framed misinformation corrections for the bolstering of message credibility within typically incongruent ideological groups, and in the use of motion within correctional content for the elevation of positive affect. Additionally, this study also exposed a link between medical mistrust and the perceived credibility toward vaccine and COVID-19 misinformation corrections, a reminder for health communication practitioners of the underlying political factors behind belief in health misinformation. Lastly, results from a thought-listing exercise displayed the prominence of heuristic thinking styles with rare exceptions for systematic processing spurned by skepticism and a desire to preserve original vaccination and COVID-19 beliefs. For scholars and practitioners, results, in general, point to a de facto reliance on heuristic cues in the evaluation of online information, with important considerations for systematic processing, and two, the use of positive affect in aiding the acceptance of misinformation corrections that may run counter to the beliefs of your target audience. This lends credibility to theories that prioritize the use of positive emotion for bolstering message reception and effectiveness for older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Mitigating over-isolation: Art therapy in prisons program during COVID-19

In January 2020, a new state-wide art therapy in prisons program was established to bring art therapy to youth offenders in four prisons to help mitigate obstacles to their education, such as emotional dysregulation, behavioral issues, and cognitive difficulties. Shortly thereafter COVID-19 halted regular programming. In a system where sequestration is already a normative practice, over-isolation occurred. Art therapists developed strategies to continue providing services, including art-based workbooks and written correspondence. Three case vignettes and overall program feedback illustrate the participants' experiences and responses to the programmatic adjustments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Workplace violence, trauma, and the lived experience of corrections officers: A phenomenological study

Corrections officers are required to ensure compliance from inmates, and sometimes they have to use force, resulting in violent encounters. Such incidents can be traumatic for those directly and indirectly involved. Previous studies examined the working conditions of jail staff, but their focus was not primarily directed toward corrections officers. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how everyday occurrences of violence associated with working in jails influence corrections officers' physiological well-being. The theory of constructed emotions framed this study. Recruiting was conducted using a demographic and interest survey distributed through Facebook. Using purposive sampling, semi structured interviews were conducted using the Zoom platform (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and face-to-face with 11 active-duty corrections officers working in a complex jail system in a northeastern metropolitan region. The study addressed the lived experiences of corrections officers who experienced or witnessed workplace violence by inmates and how inmates cope with trauma. Interview responses were coded and analyzed to identify common themes. The corrections officers' most common concerns were lack of follow-up after a use-of-force encounter and workplace policies about the use of force that are ineffective and detrimental. Other findings indicated fear, helplessness, stress, anxiety, and anger. Policymakers, key stakeholders, and others may lead to positive social change by using these findings in developing effective and competent strategic planning, management, and policy implementation to support corrections officers and offer them better ways to process the trauma that they experience throughout their careers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Anxiety Among Correctional/Detention Health Professionals and Associated Risk Factors During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.

Correctional health professionals are vulnerable to the negative mental health outcomes associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess anxiety symptoms in health professionals who work in correctional/detention facilities and identify associated risk factors. Data were collected from 192 health professionals from March 23 to June 30, 2021. The prevalence and degree of anxiety symptoms were assessed by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) scale. Chi square, Mann-Whitney U, and Pearson's correlation were used to assess the associations among anxiety scores and demographic data, COVID-19 exposures, medical and psychological history, and isolation practices. Of the sample, 27.1% had at least moderate levels of anxiety (GAD-7 score >10), which is highly suggestive of a diagnosis for GAD. Main factors associated with higher levels of anxiety included female gender, younger age, type of facility, less access to personal protective equipment, and a history of chronic medical problems. The psychological burden of COVID-19 on correctional/detention health professionals is significant, and behavioral health interventions should be considered for this unique population.

Evaluation of Correctional Facility COVID-19 Outbreaks With Layered Mitigation Strategies Including Vaccination: Colorado, 2020-2021.

In 2020-2021, a Colorado corrections facility experienced four COVID-19 outbreaks. Case counts, attack rates (ARs) in people who are detained or incarcerated (PDI), and mitigation measures used in each outbreak were compared to evaluate effects of combined strategies. Serial PCR testing, isolation/quarantine, and masking were implemented in outbreak 1. Daily staff antigen testing began in outbreak 2. Facility-wide COVID-19 vaccination started in outbreak 3 and coverage increased by the end of outbreak 4 (PDI: <1% to 59%, staff: 27% to 40%). Despite detection of variants of concern, outbreaks 3 and 4 had 97% lower PDI ARs (both 1%) than outbreak 2 (29%). Daily staff testing and increasing vaccination coverage, with other outbreak mitigation strategies, are important to reduce COVID-19 transmission in congregate settings.

Mediating Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Single Use Plastic Production, Usage and Disposal Management Models Correlations

This research examines the consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic on the production, use, and disposal of single-use plastics. This research explores the intricate relationships between the impacts of COVD-19 on single-use plastic production, usage, and waste management with a focus on the mediating effects of the pandemic related to model parameters and correlations to develop a trustworthy approach. The report examines first the increasing evidence regarding the pandemic's influence on various users and industries, and then the consequences for waste management and the environment. The research then examined the relationships and modelling framework correlations between the variables utilised to estimate the influence of COVID-induced changes in production, consumption, and management on single-use plastics. The study variables captured the influence of production, usage, and disposal on the environment. The study's parameters are equally linked to types of usage, have a pronominal effect, and disposal plays a vital role in the environmental impact, which makes them extremely dynamic for parameters in this study. Single-use plastic aggregation in the environment is predicted to be a dominant mechanism by disposal behaviour. © 2023 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.

Technological Innovations in Forensic and Correctional Mental Health: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Although research on e-mental health in criminal justice settings continues to accumulate, the evidence base on this topic remains limited. In recent years, technological innovations have increasingly entered forensic and correctional mental health care, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated their diffusion. The present special issue aims to promote evidence-based best practices and inform clinical decision-making in criminal justice settings by presenting recent developments and findings relevant to the use of e-mental health. In this introduction, we summarize the eight articles in the special issue and discuss directions for future research.

Technological Innovations in Forensic and Correctional Mental Health: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Although research on e-mental health in criminal justice settings continues to accumulate, the evidence base on this topic remains limited. In recent years, technological innovations have increasingly entered forensic and correctional mental health care, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated their diffusion. The present special issue aims to promote evidence-based best practices and inform clinical decision-making in criminal justice settings by presenting recent developments and findings relevant to the use of e-mental health. In this introduction, we summarize the eight articles in the special issue and discuss directions for future research.

Communicating veracity: The impact of emotion and multimodal resources for correcting online misinformation in older adults

This dissertation research project explored the impact of emotion (positive or negative) and presentational modality (text-only, multimodal, motion imbued styles) in correcting online misinformation for older adults. Using the theoretical foundation of the heuristic and systematic processing model, along with the emotion-based broaden and build and socioemotional selectivity theories, participants (N=302), in an online experiment, were exposed to social media misinformation rebuttals for two topics: that vaccines cause magnetism and COVID can be cured through the intake of vitamin supplements (such as Vitamin C or D). Results showcased the effectiveness of crafting positively framed misinformation corrections for the bolstering of message credibility within typically incongruent ideological groups, and in the use of motion within correctional content for the elevation of positive affect. Additionally, this study also exposed a link between medical mistrust and the perceived credibility toward vaccine and COVID-19 misinformation corrections, a reminder for health communication practitioners of the underlying political factors behind belief in health misinformation. Lastly, results from a thought-listing exercise displayed the prominence of heuristic thinking styles with rare exceptions for systematic processing spurned by skepticism and a desire to preserve original vaccination and COVID-19 beliefs. For scholars and practitioners, results, in general, point to a de facto reliance on heuristic cues in the evaluation of online information, with important considerations for systematic processing, and two, the use of positive affect in aiding the acceptance of misinformation corrections that may run counter to the beliefs of your target audience. This lends credibility to theories that prioritize the use of positive emotion for bolstering message reception and effectiveness for older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Social media use and juvenile incarceration: Perspectives from mental health professionals and staff of juvenile correctional facilities

Social media has become pervasive in the lives of modern adolescents. Although social media may provide individuals with many positive opportunities for communication and learning, social media sites also may provide an outlet for youth conduct problems, such as bullying, harassment, and intentional hostility and aggression toward others. In recent years, more and more research has shown that overuse of social media can lead to negative mental health outcomes( Khine et al., 2020;Andreassen, 2015;Lin et al., 2016). Research also suggests that more childhood conduct disorder symptoms are significantly associated with greater daily social media use during emerging adulthood (Galica, 2017). Yet, the relationship between social media use and adolescent delinquent behavior has remained clear. At the same time, according to a 2016 nationwide study, U.S. law enforcement arrested around 1.3 million adolescents each year (Puzzanchera, 2014). To this end, countless juvenile detention counselors, probation officers, unit counselors and other staff have treated and rehabilitated youths who were criminal offenders in an effort to prevent future crimes. This study aimed to better understand how these professionals considered and potentially addressed social media use in their everyday work with adolescents within the juvenile justice system. This researcher developed a brief survey which explored correctional staff's perspectives on the impact of social media use on the adolescents with whom they worked;and ways in which they could intervene. Data was collected from February 2021 to October 2021, which was longer than expected as it occurred amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The study sample consisted of 28 juvenile correctional facilities staff members (ages 18 or older), primarily mental health counselors, who were currently working with or previously worked with juveniles within the criminal justice system. Participants were acquired through multiple outreach attempts via phone and email to various juvenile correctional facilities throughout California. A majority of participants agreed that social media played a pertinent role in juvenile delinquency where it acted as a facilitator or platform for criminal behavior, and many disclosed a willingness to intervene or had previously attempted to intervene around social media use in some capacity. This included (a) directly communicating with adolescents, (b) communicating with their parents/caregivers about social media use, (c) recommending social media restrictions as a condition of probation, or (d) simply monitoring or limiting social media use in their general recommendations. This study offered a modest preliminary effort to explore and highlight the need to better understand the connection between social media use and juvenile criminal behavior as well as to develop and enhance ways to intervene with respect to this connection. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Correction to "Retrospective analysis of anti-inflammatory therapies during the first wave of COVID-19 at a community hospital".

[This corrects the article on p. 244 in vol. 10, PMID: 34616660.].

An Update on ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1

Another continuous maintenance cycle for ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1 has concluded, and the keen observer will have already noticed one of the changes made in the 2022 edition of the standard. Despite the conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee has continued to meet over the past two years, more often in web conferences than in person, to consider continuous maintenance proposals and interpretation requests and to discuss issues related to ventilation and indoor air quality. The addenda that have been adopted to the 2019 edition of that standard generally fall into three categories: clarifications, harmonization and improved procedures. Work was also begun on mandatory air density corrections, further development of humidity control requirements and addressing future extreme events, but this work was not completed in time for inclusion in the 2022 edition of the standard.

Workplace violence, trauma, and the lived experience of corrections officers: A phenomenological study

Corrections officers are required to ensure compliance from inmates, and sometimes they have to use force, resulting in violent encounters. Such incidents can be traumatic for those directly and indirectly involved. Previous studies examined the working conditions of jail staff, but their focus was not primarily directed toward corrections officers. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how everyday occurrences of violence associated with working in jails influence corrections officers' physiological well-being. The theory of constructed emotions framed this study. Recruiting was conducted using a demographic and interest survey distributed through Facebook. Using purposive sampling, semi structured interviews were conducted using the Zoom platform (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and face-to-face with 11 active-duty corrections officers working in a complex jail system in a northeastern metropolitan region. The study addressed the lived experiences of corrections officers who experienced or witnessed workplace violence by inmates and how inmates cope with trauma. Interview responses were coded and analyzed to identify common themes. The corrections officers' most common concerns were lack of follow-up after a use-of-force encounter and workplace policies about the use of force that are ineffective and detrimental. Other findings indicated fear, helplessness, stress, anxiety, and anger. Policymakers, key stakeholders, and others may lead to positive social change by using these findings in developing effective and competent strategic planning, management, and policy implementation to support corrections officers and offer them better ways to process the trauma that they experience throughout their careers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Opioid agonist treatment take-home doses ('carries'): Are current guidelines resulting in low treatment coverage among high-risk populations in Canada and the USA?

Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) is the primary intervention for opioid use disorder (OUD) in Canada and the USA. Yet, a number of barriers contribute to sub-optimal treatment uptake and retention, including daily-supervised medication administration. Thus, clients are eventually granted access to take-home OAT doses (i.e., 'carries') to reduce this burden. However, this decision is based on physician discretion and whether patients can demonstrate stability in various life domains, many of which are inextricably linked to the social determinants of health (SDOH). Current Canadian and USA OAT carry guidance documents are not standardized and do not take the SDOH into consideration, resulting in the potential for inequitable access to OAT carries, which may be the case particularly among marginalized populations such as individuals with OUD who have been released from custody. This perspective article posits that current OAT guidelines contribute to inequities in access to OAT carries, and that these inequities likely result in disproportionately low coverage for OUD treatment among some high-risk groups, including individuals on release from incarceration in particular. Relevant impacts of COVID-19 and related policy changes are considered, and suggestions and recommendations to amend current OAT guidance documents are provided.