Research
DACUM
This document presents part of the research, and the results carried out in the scope of the PO21 project. The goal was to auscultate Prison Officers, regarding their training needs in order to develop a training curricula based on those needs. Two research activities were implemented: an in-depth data collection through a DACUM, and a wide data collection through a survey.
The document presents an overview of the DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) methodology implementation, which was applied in a workshop format in 3 countries, involving 15 participants each to assess the needs and challenges perceived by the prison officers. The analysis of the data collected provided information regarding main and specific duties and evidenced that PO share most of them. The document presents the data analysis by country and the respective results. The PO21 survey implementation is also presented. It was applied online in 3 countries and responded by 436 prison officers, focused on the PO professional orientation, training needs, contents and emerging knowledge. Its main results evidenced some disparity between the perceived level of inclusion of some training themes in initial training and the importance given by the PO. These themes comprise Staff Support and Development (information on the supports available to staff to carry out their role effectively, e. g., stress management), Report writing, Suicide and Self-harm, Risk Assessment and inmates’ Mental Health. To a lesser extent, Substance Misuse, Safety, Use of force and Static and Procedural Security. These discrepancies suggest that these topics should have a higher level of inclusion in the initial training. |