From the inside: Dancing between burnout and engagement in a prison

Professionals who work in prisons present high levels of chronic stress that affect their daily performance and health. The incorporation of training workshops on emotional regulation and stress coping strategies from a psycho-body approach could have a positive impact on their well-being. This article presents an exploratory study that analyzes chronic stress, emotional repertoire and body awareness, of a sample of 15 professionals from a prison, together with the effect produced by an intervention through training workshops with Dance Movement Therapy.

A mixed methodology with a pretest-posttest design was used. The variables of burnout, engagement, emotional repertoire and body awareness were measured. With the information obtained from a participatory focus group, a six-hour body awareness program was designed and implemented, during which participants completed reflective diaries for subsequent analysis.

High levels of stress and low body awareness were found. Qualitative analysis generated evidence for improvements in body awareness and the incorporation of coping strategies based on listening to body sensations and emotional regulation. Pre-post test analysis for a subsample (n = 4) of the total showed improvements in different subscales, not statistically significant, but with medium effect sizes.

Despite the limitations of the study, the results are promising. The participants value the workshop very positively and consider having incorporated tools to cope with work stress.