Strength- and recovery-based approaches in forensic mental health in late modernity: Increasingly incorporating a human rights angle?

Factors Influencing the Personal Recovery of Inpatients in a Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in South Korea

PURPOSE

This study aimed to identify the factors influencing the personal recovery of inpatients of a forensic psychiatric hospital.

METHODS

A descriptive study design was assigned. The participants were 136 inpatients in a forensic psychiatric hospital in South Korea. The data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics Version 26.0 with descriptive statistics, independent t test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression.

RESULTS

Perceived physical health status (β = 0.16, p = 0.034), perceived mental health status (β = 0.20, p = 0.023), perceived family support (β = 0.17, p = 0.013), duration of hospitalization (β = 0.25, p < 0.001), and recovery attitudes (β = 0.36, p < 0.001) were the significant factors explaining 42.6% of the variance in the personal recovery of participants.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study indicate that recovery attitudes, health status, and personal support affect forensic mental health personal recovery. Personal recovery can be strengthened through nursing intervention and support to strengthen recovery attitudes and health status. It is necessary to get used to personal recovery through long-term and systematic education, and organizations and nurses need to make efforts to provide services centered on personal recovery.

The Reintegration of Men into Society after a Sexual Offense: A Hermeneutic Phenomenology Study

The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experience and meaning of being a 'sex offender' for the individual who is reintegrating into society, considering issues associated with self-perception, perception of others, stigma and humanization. Fourteen male adults were invited to participate in this hermeneutic phenomenological study. Data analysis was completed using an iterative process as described by van Manen. Five major themes were identified: exposed secret leads to humiliation; being considered a sex offender is living in fear of the unknown; stigma and shame consume the identity of the individual charged with a sexual offense; reframing and "leveling" of the crime are coping strategies; and the path toward healing and forgiveness is complex. Contextualizing individuals' experiences and examining barriers and motivators post-charge are essential to minimize stigma and risk factors linked to recidivism, as well as to facilitate recovery and healing.

"You Want Them Pretty, but Not Too Intelligent!": Everyday Talk and the Continuum of Men's Violence Against Women in Forensic Institutional Care

The forensic setting houses persons with offence convictions who are also in receipt of ongoing mental healthcare-a criminal justice system and healthcare meeting-point. Extant literature highlights how this context is laden with interpersonal and institutional difficulties unique to a secure context that must provide care and custody concurrently. Our central argument is that the intertwining and interdependent cultural and custodial elements of forensic healthcare environments are integral and influential to care, culture, and conduct within such institutions-including concerning misogynistic everyday talk and the continuum of men's violence against women therein. We argue that the institution is a continuation of contemporary social issues experienced within community life (e.g., misogyny), as the boundaries of such institutions are porous-polis values traverse physical brickwork. This paper analyses ethnographic data from two male wards that are situated within a UK inpatient forensic mental health hospital. Ethnographic fieldwork occurred over 300 hours-overtly participating in, exploring, and recording the daily life of the community. Five excerpts of ethnographic data are presented, which evidence the gendered ward environment and highlight a series of encounters pertaining to problematic social life, which are the upholding of heteronormative gender roles, hegemonic masculinity, and misogyny. These views are problematised within the sexual offending rehabilitative context by considering the clinical risk associated. Further, we argue that to only focus on the end of the continuum often viewed as most serious (e.g., rape) ignores a pervasive cultural landscape of the polis in wider community, beyond the institution, that facilitates the more commonly experienced end of the continuum related to misogynistic values, encounters, and talk. We evidence how social norms and habitualised gendered actions permeate the institution, which bring into question the rehabilitative efficacy of the hospital. This paper embraces a feminist lens to explore everyday social interactions and the embodied experience of the female ethnographer within a male-dominated forensic setting. We contribute to the literature by newly theorising the influences of hierarchical heterosexual gender roles, violent language in forensic settings, and misogynistic attitudes and practice, on the care for, and rehabilitation of, patients.

The Totalising Nature of Secure and Forensic Mental Health Services in England and Wales

This evidence-based opinion piece explores the totalising risk averse nature of secure and forensic mental health services and associated iatrogenic harms in England and Wales. Drawing on the research literature I consider the various influences, both external and internal which impact on the provision of such services and how both the therapeutic alliance and recovery potential for patients may be improved. Especial attention is paid to the deployment of restrictive practise, practitioner attitudes, the potential for non-thinking, and how these may impact on decision-making and the care and treatment of mentally disordered offenders.