RELATIONSHIPS
OFFICER-SUPERVISEE RELATIONSHIPS ARE IMPORTANT FOR OUTCOMES
3. The Role of Stress in Officer-Supervisee Relationships: A Biosocial Approach to Reducing Recidivism
The quality of officer-supervisee relationships heavily influences the success of interventions. As such, it is critical to understand the factors that hinder these relationships, and officer stress is a prime candidate. To this end, we are conducting a series of projects funded by the National Science Foundation( NSF) that examine the role of officer stress in building working alliances with supervisees and how these resulting relationships impact criminal justice outcomes. Two examples are:
Stress Profiles and Officers: Integrating Biological Measures
The limited research on stress among community supervision officers( CSOs) often relies on subjective reports and rarely incorporates biological measures. Subjective reports of stress are informative but can suffer from recall bias and social desirability, which do not always correlate with the output of the physiological mediators of stress. This study fills this gap by describing the daily cortisol profile of CSOs during their regular workdays. The findings will shed light on the utility of incorporating such biological measures into CSO stress research.
Research Partner: Frances Chen, Georgia State University( GSU)
Community Supervision and Officer Stress: The Role of Stress in Implementing Person-Centered Communication Skills
Despite expanding the knowledge base on“ what works” in community supervision, we have only seen modest gains in criminal justice outcomes. Given that implementing new interventions is the responsibility of CSOs, a deeper understanding of the factors that influence their adoption of evidence-based practices is critical to the effectiveness of probation and parole. To this end, we assess whether increased stress among CSOs is associated with their likelihood of implementing the Enhanced Supervision Program( ESP), a research-informed initiative designed to improve officersupervisee relationships.
Research Partner: Frances Chen, Georgia State University( GSU)
DCS FY25 Research Agenda Page 5