Frank Ferdik

Biographic Data

ID4126815
NAMEFrank Ferdik
GIVEN NAMESFrank
FAMILY NAMEFerdik
SIGNATUREFERDIK F
AFFILIATIONSAustin Peay State University
ORCID0000-0002-3814-024X
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS21
TOTAL CITATIONS8
AUTHOR COUNT21
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2013
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX1

  • Optimization bias in correctional leadership

    Open AccessHoward Persifor Smith, Frank Ferdik et al.ARTICLECrime & Delinquency2026

    Frontline-administrator misalignment in general evaluations of health can undermine efforts to improve correctional officer well-being. This study examined optimization bias in correctional leadership—administrators’ overestimation of officer well-being. Using paired surveys from ( n = 308) officers and ( n = 104) administrators, cross-role perceptions regarding relational access and well-being revealed disparities between both groups. For exampl…

  • The Unintended Effects of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in a Maximum-Security Prison for Women

    Open AccessCreaig A Dunton, Howard Persifor Smith et al.ARTICLECrime & Delinquency2026

    Research on the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) has overwhelmingly focused on male correctional institutions, neglecting female ones. Sexual violence is also of concern within female prisons, and the need arises to understand whether PREA is achieving the goal of eradicating sexual misconduct in prisons housing women, or if the policy is having unintended effects. Based on results from surveys collected from women (N = 369) incarcerated in a S…

  • Administrative Perspectives

    Open AccessHoward Persifor Smith, Frank FerdikARTICLECrime & Delinquency2026

    To effectively eliminate sexual violence under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), it is crucial for correctional administrators to have a comprehensive understanding of this law. Train-the-Trainer models have gained popularity as an effective andragogy-based form of instruction for adult learners that can tackle complex subjects, including PREA. This study features interview data from 29 correctional administrators in a Southeastern state pr…

  • Enabling Correctional Officer Wellness

    Howard Persifor Smith, Hayden P Smith et al.ARTICLECorrections2026

    Despite availability of wellness resources, correctional officer engagement remains low due to stigma, confidentiality concerns, and mistrust of organizational supports. To address this gap, a deliberative stakeholder panel of (N = 10) correctional practitioners generated implementation-focused recommendations, revealing four key barriers: logistical access constraints, weak confidentiality safeguards, cultural stigma, and limited leadership supp…

  • Testing the Effects of a Servant Leadership Intervention Using a Cluster Randomized Experiment

    Frank Ferdik, Howard Persifor Smith et al.ARTICLEJustice Quarterly2025

    Harmonious organizational cultures where staff experience positive mental health outcomes are largely created by managers who practice servant leadership. For many correctional officers, this leadership style is missing from corrections, leading to harmful institutional cultures, and depleted officer mental health. To determine whether correctional cultures and officer mental health can be improved, a servant leadership intervention was randomly …

  • Innovating Wellness

    Open AccessHoward Persifor Smith, R L Fix et al.ARTICLECriminal Justice and Behavior2025

    Police personnel face numerous occupational hazards that can severely compromise their physical and mental health. Despite decades of scholarship on the subject, little is known about how best to deliver wellness knowledge and interventions to this workgroup. To address this research void, semistructured interviews were conducted with ( n = 17) sworn and ( n = 9) civilian police personnel from a large metropolitan law enforcement agency in the Mi…

  • “It’s Like the Zombie Apocalypse Here”

    Open AccessFrank Ferdik, George Frogge et al.ARTICLECrime & Delinquency2025

    Correctional officers are shouldered with important responsibilities designed to reinforce institutional security, yet work under hazardous conditions that can jeopardize their wellbeing. Among the myriad dangers they confront, COVID-19 has now presented itself as an additional threat to officer wellness. Presently little is known about how the coronavirus pandemic has affected officers, or their respective institutions. Semi-structured interview…

  • Incarcerated Women and Mental Illness

    Open AccessSarah E King, Howard Persifor Smith et al.ARTICLECrime & Delinquency2025

    A significant number of incarcerated women experience severe and persistence mental illness. Even though a sizable body of research finds that mental health can be significantly worsened during periods of incarceration, surprisingly few studies to date have explored how incarcerated women negotiate, manage, and process their clinical diagnoses while in custody. To address this research void, the current study conducted an interpretative phenomeno…

  • Promoting physical and mental wellness in police

    R L Fix, Frank Ferdik et al.ARTICLEPolice Practice and Research2025

    Preservation of community safety is inextricably tied to police personnel wellbeing. When considering that an alarming number of police personnel are experiencing serious health impairments, a pressing need emerges to address this issue. In response, the current study conducted semi-structured interviews with (n = 18) sworn and (n = 8) civilian police personnel from a Mid-Atlantic police department to acquire insight into the health services they…

  • Retracted

    Open AccessFrank FerdikARTICLECriminology & Public Policy2025References: 6

    Research Summary Correctional officers (COs) are the backbone of the custodial system as they are tasked with critical responsibilities such as safeguarding the welfare of incarcerated populations and maintaining institutional security. Despite their importance, studies have consistently revealed how COs worldwide face high rates of mental illness. Although mental health interventions like Employee Assistance Programs and Critical Incident Stress…

  • A Mixed-Methodological Inquiry of Correctional Population Responses Toward the Prison Rape Elimination Act

    Open AccessFrank Ferdik, Howard Persifor Smith et al.ARTICLECriminal Justice and Behavior2024

    For the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) to prevent sexual victimization in the correctional system, incarcerated persons and corrections staff must hold favorable views of this law, and behave in manners conducive toward its mission. In regards to behavior, both populations must report allegations of sexual misconduct, and be cautious in their interactions with one another. Currently, no study has researched whether these perceptual and behavi…

  • Correctional Officer Responses to Workplace Trauma

    Open AccessFrank Ferdik, Jon T A Gist et al.ARTICLECriminal Justice and Behavior2024

    The Vicarious Trauma Toolkit (VTT) was created as a mental health resource for first-responders such as police officers and fire fighters who are routinely exposed to vicarious workplace trauma. While VTT services are appropriate for these occupational groups, they seem less so for correctional officers who are also exposed to secondary trauma at work. To widen the VTT’s reach to a correctional context, open-ended questionnaire data gathered from…

  • Using a Peer-Led Trainer Model to Improve the Effectiveness of the Prison Rape Elimination Act

    Open AccessHoward Persifor Smith, Frank FerdikARTICLECrime & Delinquency2024

    Aside from providing education on complex subjects, peer-led trainer models can also improve the effectiveness of policies. Sexual violence remains a problem within corrections, despite passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). To acquire insight into ways of improving this policy, focus group data were collected from ( n = 16) male and ( n = 16) female residents of a Southeastern United States prison system who had recently completed a …

  • Correctional officer turnover intentions and mental illness symptom

    Frank Ferdik, Emily PicaARTICLEPsychology Public Policy and Law2024Cited by: 1

  • An Assessment of the Knowledge, Support, and Behavior Surrounding the Implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act

    Open AccessHoward Persifor Smith, Frank Ferdik et al.ARTICLECriminal Justice and Behavior2023

    The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was designed to eliminate from corrections systems all acts of sexual violence. PREA’s success will be determined by whether corrections staff and incarcerated persons support this law, understand its legal elements, and are enforcing it according to it’s original intentions. To date, few studies have examined whether members of both populations do indeed support PREA, and whether they are enforcing it corre…

  • Problem-solving Covid-19

    Frank Ferdik, George M Frogge et al.ARTICLEPsychology Public Policy and Law2023

  • Citizen satisfaction with the police and college-based informal social controls

    Open AccessFrank FerdikARTICLEJournal of Criminal Justice2023References: 42

  • Exploring further determinants of citizen satisfaction with the police

    Open AccessFrank Ferdik, George Frogge et al.ARTICLEJournal of Criminal Justice2022Cited by: 1References: 64

  • The influence of strain on law enforcement legitimacy evaluations

    Open AccessFrank Ferdik, Frank V FerdikARTICLEJournal of Criminal Justice2014Cited by: 1References: 54

  • Citizen oversight in the United States and Canada

    Frank Ferdik, Frank V Ferdik et al.ARTICLEPolice Practice and Research2013

    Police misconduct and corruption have the potential to erode public trust and confidence in both policing and government agencies. Repeat accounts of law enforcement officials engaging in deviant acts have prompted greater citizen involvement in the review of officer behavior. However, citizen oversight has had a contentious history in both the USA and Canada, with most challenges expressed by law enforcement officers whose behavior often comes u…

  • Do drug courts reduce the use of incarceration

    Open AccessEric L Sevigny, Brian K Fuleihan et al.ARTICLEJournal of Criminal Justice2013Cited by: 5References: 29