Resilience of Dutch probation officers: A critical need for a critical profession
| Author | Lori Button,Nanne Vosters,Bas Vogelvang,Aleid Sperna Weiland,Jo Clarke |
| Published date | 01 August 2014 |
| Date | 01 August 2014 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/2066220314540570 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
540570EJP0010.1177/2066220314540570European Journal of ProbationVogelvang et al.
2014
Article
European Journal of Probation
2014, Vol. 6(2) 126 –146
Resilience of Dutch probation
© The Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/2066220314540570
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a critical profession
Bas Vogelvang
Avans University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
Jo Clarke
University of York, UK
Aleid Sperna Weiland
Dutch Probation Services, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Nanne Vosters
Avans University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
Lori Button
University of York, UK
Abstract
This article presents the first research findings into the resilience of Dutch probation
officers. The research has been a part of European-funded SPORE project, that aimed
to identify approaches that appear to have a positive impact on probation officers’
resilience. The theoretical starting point for the research was the Stress Shield Model,
developed and validated in research among police officers. This model views resilience
as the capacity to cope with, adapt to, and develop from the demands, challenges and
changes encountered as a result of working in a critical occupation. The model describes
resilience as an outcome, resulting from the interaction between organizational, peer
related, and individual factors.
By means of five focus groups and an internet survey consisting of questionnaires
measuring the model factors, the research aimed to identify how the factors in the
Corresponding author:
Bas Vogelvang, Avans University of Applied Sciences, Center for Safety Policy and Criminal Justice,
‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.
Email: bo.vogelvang@avans.nl
Vogelvang et al.
127
model influence the resilience of Dutch probation officers (POs), what effective
or promising practices exist in the Netherlands for the purpose of strengthening
resilience of POs, what supporting activities can be carried out by the management,
and finally what recommendations can be made for developments at a national and
European level.
The survey was completed by 165 POs. Results indicate that for Dutch POs
it is not primarily clients who have a negative impact on their resilience. Worker
resilience appears to be primarily threatened, but also developed and strengthened,
by characteristics of the organization and team, as well as the characteristics of the
individual worker himself. As an organization, the Dutch Probation Service appears to
effectively build and sustain probation officers’ sense of empowerment, which prepares
them for future stress. In addition, the research shows the importance of a resilient
team and of an organization that provides teams with proper support. Based on these
research findings, a set of detailed recommendations is presented that has now been
adopted by the management of the Dutch Probation Service.
Keywords
Resilience, stress, probation management, team support, human resources, Dutch
probation
My first case was attempted murder. The client proudly told me the details. That was tough. I
thought that I should be able to deal with this; after all I had already done an internship.
Everyone thought ‘you’ve already done an internship, so you already know it all’. I can’t
remember what I was doing back then at the start. Things were not going well, but nobody
noticed that. I myself thought that I was obviously supposed to be able to cope with everything.
So it was some time before I asked for help. By that point I was afraid to ask for clarification
and thought that I would soon have a nervous breakdown. You need to receive proper guidance
in the first year. I eventually started to follow courses, started to work more in my own time in
order to meet my performance targets and started to ask my colleagues questions. Now, things
are going well. I approach my colleagues more often. At some point the work supervisor also
started to make more time available for me. (Dutch probation officer, spring 2013)
Introduction: A critical profession
Probation work is a critical profession. It is critical for a safe society, where citizens can
live a life without suffering from crime. In this respect, probation work is especially criti-
cal for certain citizens: victims, and people who are very vulnerable to becoming victim-
ized. Probation work is also critical for the offender, because it can help him change his
criminal life into a crime free life. Both the What Works insights and desistance studies
show us that if probation works with the right interventions, with the right intensity, and
with the right personal touch, it can be a life changing experience (Durnescu, 2013).
Probation work is also critical because probation officers (POs) are sometimes faced
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European Journal of Probation 6(2)
with serious offences, and with dangerous offenders. Offence details can be gruesome.
Clients can be aggressive and manipulative towards the PO, unpredictable and hard to
motivate. These job-related dangers make probation work also a critical profession for
the PO him/herself.
Finally, in many countries the organization is another possible source of stress for the
PO. Probation organizations are under pressure due to ongoing professionalization, high
social expectations and, recently, severe spending cuts. Both the infrastructure of these
organizations and their organizational culture can be heavily influenced by these devel-
opments (Moors and Vogelvang, 2009).
A critical profession needs resilient professionals. Probation organizations need POs
who – in spite of many threats and challenges – are willing and able to assist offenders
in changing their lives. In contrast to other critical professions, such as the police, medics
and fire-fighters, the resilience of POs has not been studied. This is surprising, given the
critical nature of the job. The Strengthening Probation Officers’ Resilience in Europe
(SPORE) research has been developed to fill this gap by doing extensive research into
POs’ resilience. The project came into being as part of an initiative by the Latvian
Probation Service and has been financed by the European Union. It was carried out over
the period from March 2012 to September 2013.
The SPORE project was also set up to help to improve practice. The project there-
fore identified ‘best practices’ from approaches that appeared to have a positive
impact on POs’ resilience. These ‘best practices’ were exchanged between the partner
countries on several occasions during the project, to ensure that the probation organi-
zation in each country was able to benefit from them. In the Netherlands, the SPORE
project was carried out in close collaboration with the Personnel and Policy depart-
ments of the Dutch Probation Service. This contribution will focus on the Dutch
research results.
Theory: The concept of resilience and the Stress Shield
Model
The theoretical starting point for the research was the Stress Shield Model (SSM, Burke
and Paton, 2006; Paton et al., 2008) (see Figure 1). This model has been developed and
validated in research among police officers (patrolling the streets). Burke and Paton
define resilience as the capacity of individuals and organizations to draw upon their own
individual, collective and institutional resources and competencies in ways that allow
them to render challenging events coherent, manageable and meaningful. This definition
views resilience as the capacity to cope with, adapt to and develop from the demands,
challenges and changes encountered as a result of working in a critical occupation. In the
SSM, resilience is not viewed as a (trait-like) static characteristic, but instead a change-
able, learnable characteristic that enables professionals and organizations to prepare
themselves for stress and learn from it, instead of simply having to respond adequately
‘after the event’ (since resilience is about more than just ‘bouncing back’). The definition
also clearly emphasizes the complimentary organizational and individual responsibilities
concerning adaptive outcome.
Vogelvang et al.
129
The Stress Shield Model of resilience (Paton et al., 2008).
Figure 1. Note: Solid lines indicate positive influences on adaptive capacity and growth. Dashes indicate pathways with negative influences on empowerment.
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European Journal of Probation 6(2)
Organizational, peer related and individual factors
The SSM describes resilience as an outcome, resulting from the interaction between
organizational, peer related and individual factors.
First, at the organizational level, factors such as workload, confidence in the organiza-
tion, the quality of supervision and the physical working environment are important.
Research shows that the individuals’ perception of how their organization functions can
provide these individuals with a context in which they can interpret and act during criti-
cal situations (Paton, 2006). A positive organizational climate appears to be negatively
associated with emotion-focused problem solving (which tends to increase feelings of
stress and burnout) and ‘hassles’ in work experience, but correlated positively with prob-
lem focused coping and ‘uplifts’ work experience (Burke and Paton, 2006). In the latter
research, the occupational climate accounted for 44 per cent of variance in job satisfac-
tion (measured by the Job Satisfaction Inventory, Brayfield and Rothe, 1951, 1987).
Second, peer-related factors in the SSM are...
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