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Published on: April 23, 2014
The development and psychometric properties of the Prison Fellowship-Well-being Index (PF WBI)
Michael Denhof1, Rachel Crawley1, Leigha Puckett1
1Department of Research and Innovation, Prison Fellowship, Lansdowne, Virginia, USA.
Purpose:
This paper aims to describe the development and validation of the Prison Fellowship Well-being index (PF-WBI), a new quantitative tool for assessing prisoner and staff well-being within prison cultures.
Design/Methodology/Approach:
The PF-WBI was developed through an iterative process of item creation, administration alongside established well-being measures and a series of data analyses. Data was collected from both staff and prisoners (n = 989) across four North Dakota prisons.
Findings:
Analysis supported a four-factor structure for the PF-WBI measuring motivation/self-esteem, relationships/community functioning, hope/mood and stress-related detriments. The PF-WBI demonstrated excellent internal consistency reliability, convergent validity with established well-being measures and criterion-related validity for both staff and prisoners. Measurement invariance across staff and prisoners was also confirmed.
Originality/Value:
The PF-WBI offers a new and versatile tool for researchers and practitioners to assess staff and prisoner well-being in correctional settings. It can be used to evaluate prison cultures and the effectiveness of culture improvement efforts.
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