The European context of the project shows that in partner countries, Italy, Spain, Norway, Cyprus the numbers of relapses are on European average and the reforms in justice and law enforcement system throughout Europe focused to improve detention facilities, changing the policies, and staff training, endorsing employees with key competences and improving the staff capacity to manage stress and anger work related situations. In Romania, where the relapse rate tends to 100% even though in public order and safety system some steps were taken to improve detention conditions, but the training for employees in managing anger and negative emotions was not approached yet. We consider a priority reducing the gap to the EU average. The goal of the project is to strengthen employees VET training in public order and safety, through a training program in anger management, addressed to employees from internal affairs, border police and penitentiary. The project objectives are: 1. Developing employee’s capacity to manage the work related stress and negative emotions. 2. Improving employee’s skills to work with persons with personality disorders with consequences in criminal behavior. 3. Improving employees’ capacity to perform needs assessment and interventions for offenders with personality disorders in order to reduce their risk to reoffend. All partners will select professionals, ensuring a transparent manner of nomination and selection, based on practical experience and applying reasonable criteria for selecting the 32 participants in project activities. Participants at multiplier events are professionals from territorial structures of each partner country, also from similar institutions from national level, transborder regions and European level. Under the project management activities we underline the obligations of the coordinator, such as - the project launch, control in terms of timeliness of implementation and achievement indicators, rational use of resources, quality and risk reduction, monitoring, evaluation of the project, implementation of activities, ensure the development of intellectual results, record-keeping tasks, reporting, dissemination and communication. The project activities will also involve project transnational meetings, In-house Training –84 employees will be trained in all partner countries, dissemination and multiplier activities, and project experts will develop output 01. Scientific research, Protocols, and needs analysis for anger, violence and stress reduction, Output 02. Manual for work related stress and anger management applied in law enforcement and correctional field, Output 03. Upgrading the online platform with specific resources and producing Output 04. The Miniguide for employees in dealing with aggressive personalities. This project will provide employee a better support to reduce the stress responses in work environment. It is important that employees feel confident and capable of undertaking assigned tasks. This project is going to bring the opportunity to cooperate at European level in order to find best ways to achieve this confidence, through suitable training aiming at becoming more competent in their roles. The training program developed in this project will be both task-specific and practical abilities in dealing with anger, violence and negative emotions. The main results focus on the delivery of the intellectual outputs and employee training, involved in training programme during project implementation; the training materials consisting in course description, conceptual instructions, materials (PPTs, worksheets, texts, videos) in electronic versions will adopt an internal usage for law enforcement and correctional staff, will be available for personnel and disseminated through the online platform. Multiplier and dissemination events in each country partner, webpages and press releases informing about the project results, will deliver information for the specific target audience also ensuring the dissemination of the project outcomes carried out to achieve the widest possible way to the relevant stakeholders and policy makers in the field of continuous training. Also, the foreign partners can publish and disseminate in their countries the outputs, the Manual, Miniguide, and the Scientific Research results. The project completion will lead to an impact on the target group of the project, ensuring improved capacity to perform needs assessment and interventions in dealing with personality disorders. The project partners will establish all arrangements concerning the project work, outputs and goals to be available during the five years of sustainability and beyond, being linked with new project opportunities and ensuring long term partnerships and strengthen cooperation in field related to public order and safety system.
Monitoring work-related stress revealed high heterogeneity between European states and recent surveys show that one in every five European workers endures work-related stress. This project had the aim of describing key research and activities useful for stress and anger reduction in the five participating countries: Romania, Spain, Cyprus, Italy and Norway, based on previous projects aiming at improving HR policies and therefore the psychosocial environment in organizations. The specific goal was to compare strengths and weaknesses of practices for stress reduction with a transnational view, in order to improve the employee’s capacity to manage the work related stress and negative emotions; the employee’s skills to work with persons with personality disorders with consequences in criminal behavior as wel as the employees’ capacity to perform needs assessment and interventions for offenders with personality disorders in order to reduce the risk to reoffend. The strategic partnership targeted the achievement of: 01. Scientific research, Protocols, and needs analysis for anger, violence and stress reduction, Output 02. Manual for work related stress and anger management applied in law enforcement and correctional field, Output 03. Upgrading the online platform with specific resources and producing Output 04. The Miniguide for employees in dealing with aggressive personalities. The collection of scientific evidences gives strength to practices supported in this project, designed at the end to give practical suggestions to professionals and provided valid data for the development of documents that support measures and decisions regarding stress in the workplace. The main results derived from the intellectual outputs were delivered to the employees during project implementation, through professional training sessions, and will continue to be disseminated with the support of the VET departments: the protocols for work related stress and anger management applied, which is a detailed collection of techniques for the reduction of stress and anger and the miniguide for employees involved in activities with higher rate of psychosocial risks, a brief ready-to-use guide with simple and fast techniques for managing aggressive personalities. We involved 846 participants and 18 researchers in studies regarding stress and anger in the workplace, 234 trainers and coordinators in dissemination at national and European level, 12 officials and 30 professionals from other European states in multiplying the results. The benefits of this project were multiplied during events in each partner country, webpages and press releases informing about the project results, to the relevant stakeholders and policy makers in the field of VET. The outputs, the protocols, miniguide, tools and instruments for scientific research become available and free on the project webpage. The impact was measured at the end of the project, during the multiplying events, by an independent company and 85% of beneficiaries reported the the events had risen to expectations regarding the deliverables, techniques and lecturers. We consider that the project results stand as a solid base for training on improving management of negative emotions, stress, anger, the usefulness of such a program being presented by the respondents, with reference to the following aspects: personal development and optimization; improving interpersonal and organizational communication; increased frustration tolerance and self-control; increased confidence in one's own forces and in the work group; optimizing the working climate; reducing the risk of conflict occurrence and manifestation; efficiency of professional activities; prevention of possible professional behaviors at risk. Forming and training professionals in law enforcement and penitentiary staff is difficult and with this project we took a solid step in trying to create a correlation between what a worker actually does and what he needs to know and do. Excessive work-related stress has a strong impact on the lives of all employees, regardless of the position they occupy. To conclude, the project provided the opportunity to develop continuous training for staff working in activities with higher rate of psychosocial risks and for development of programs focused on stress reduction strategies for physical and mental health of staff. The strategic partnership provided the context for a wide range of professionals and organizations across Europe to exchange expertise, to work together for common goal and to create added value to their work and also, at European level. The project partners established long lasting networks of cooperation, improvements, sustainability and beyond, looking forward for new project opportunities.