Reconstructing normality: characteristics of staff interactions with forensic mental health inpatients

Exploring Social Interactions in the Context of Justice System Involvement: Perspectives of Patients and Psychiatric Nurses

Psychiatric nurses who work with people who are involved with the justice system experience ethical and moral tension arising from their dual role (care and control). This is known to significantly affect the development of a therapeutic relationship between nurses and patients. (a) better understand how justice system involvement affects people living with mental disorders and the nurses who work with them; (b) explore the influence of judiciarization on social interactions between these actors. Grounded theory (GT) was used as the qualitative methodology for this research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants. The study was carried out in three different units of a psychiatric institution: Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, Emergency Department, and Brief Intervention Unit. A sample of 10 patients and 9 psychiatric nurses was recruited (n = 19). Theoretical sampling was used to recruit participants. We followed the iterative steps of qualitative GT analysis (open coding, axial coding, constant comparison, and modelization). Three main themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: (a) Experience of Justice System Involvement, (b) Crisis, (c) Relational Aspects and Importance of the Approach. These results will inform nurses and healthcare providers about the impacts of justice system involvement on people living with mental illness and how clinical practices can be better adapted to this population with complex health needs.

A Meta-Ethnographic Review of Forensic Psychiatry Inpatient Care. Nursing Staff Experiences of the Nurse-Patient Encounter

AIM

The aim of this review was to synthesise qualitative research into how nurses perceive and experience encountering patients in forensic inpatient care.

REVIEW METHOD

This review followed the steps of meta-ethnography developed by Noblit and Hare.

DATA SOURCES

Twelve studies, published from 2011 to 2021, were identified through a search of relevant databases in December 2021.

FINDINGS

The synthesis revealed three third-order and 10 second-order constructs during the translation of concepts in the studies. These are: Adopting the patient's perspective (liberation, comprehension and resistance), Action (security, trust, flexibility and predictability) and Activation (afraid or safe, involved or indifferent and boundaries). Further, a line of argument was developed which indicates that in forensic psychiatry inpatient care, nurses experience having to deal with internal and external resistance that affects their freedom of choice in the creation of a caring relationship.

CONCLUSION

The encounter is experienced as a continuous process in which the foundation is laid for the encounter (approach), the encounter unfolds and develops (action) and the nurse experiences the encounter (activation). The process is intertwined with and takes place in a context where care is influenced by the duality of the task (task), the culture of care (context), the patient's expression (patient) and the nurse's own impression of the patient's expression (oneself).

IMPLICATIONS

Professional communities should support initiatives that can strengthen nurses' self-awareness and provide opportunities for reflection on practice, which will both benefit the resilience of the nursing staff and the quality of care for patients in this setting.

[Types of action orientation of primary nurses in building relationships with their patients in forensic psychiatric hospitals]

Types of action orientation of primary nurses in building relationships with their patients in forensic psychiatric hospitals Abstract: Background: Building interpersonal relationships with patients is one of the most elementary tasks of mental health nurses in forensic psychiatric hospitals and should be considered as the core of their professional identity. The attitude of forensic psychiatric nurses has a substantial impact on building relationships even though this is often not immediately obvious as an implicit concept. Research question: Which types of action orientation of primary nurses characterize the building of relationships with their patients in forensic psychiatric hospitals? Methodology: To record the collective orientations of nurses, two group discussions were held with eight participants. The evaluation was carried out based on the documentary method. Results: Four types of orientations could be grouped into a generalizable basic typology. The focus is set on the relationship as a necessary precondition for successful cooperation with the patient. Honesty and mutual trust are significant features. Conversations about everyday topics facilitate relationship building. Openness and a genuine interest in the patient are equally as important as the definition and maintenance of personal boundaries. Conclusion: Implicit, action-oriented attitudes of forensic psychiatric nurses should be reflectively accessed in order to define professional relationships and maintain their boundaries. To achieve this, nurses need to have a structured framework to facilitate self-reflection and self-awareness. The goal is the systematic development of personal and interactional competences.

Strategies Employed by Forensic Community Mental Health Nurses to Resolve Difficulties in Supporting Offenders With Mental Disorders Under the Medical Treatment and Supervision Act in Japan

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to identify the strategies used by forensic community mental health nurses to resolve difficulties in supporting offenders with mental disorders under the Medical Treatment and Supervision Act in Japan.

METHOD

Interviews were conducted with 13 nurses, and the data were analyzed using content analysis.

RESULTS

The study identified the strategies for difficulties in (a) assessing and managing risk potential of forensic service patients, (b) addressing offending behavior, (c) managing the transition of patients, (d) supporting patients to understand the impact of justice processes and applying knowledge of legislation to nursing, and (e) promoting the role of forensic community mental health nurses within the multidisciplinary team.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings can benefit and support forensic community mental health nurses' practices. The Japanese forensic community mental health nurses experiencing difficulties and providing home visits to patients can utilize the identified strategies.

The path of compassion in forensic psychiatry

We aimed to deepen our understanding of the concept of compassion in caring for patients with mental illness in forensic psychiatric inpatient care settings. Qualitative analysis was used to illuminate themes from interviews conducted with 13 nurses in a prior study. The audiotaped interviews, which had been transcribed verbatim, were analyzed following a hermeneutic approach. Results revealed the main theme of "being compassionate in forensic psychiatry is an emotional journey" and three themes. Overall, compassion was seen as a changeable asset, but also an obstacle when absent; sensitivity to one's own vulnerability is necessary to overcome that obstacle.

An exploration of perceived coercion into psychological assessment and treatment within a low secure forensic mental health service

Psychologists working within forensic mental health (FMH) services face challenges around supporting clients' informed consent when engaging in psychological assessment and treatment. Given that there is little research in this area, this qualitative study interviewed ten forensic inpatients from a low secure FMH service, to determine the impact of any perceived coercion to engage with psychologists. Interviews were transcribed and subject to Thematic Analysis. Three over-arching themes emerged from the analysis: 'Awareness of Coercive Power', 'Experiencing and Responding to Coercion' and 'Psychological Treatment is Helpful, But…'. Participants perceived coercion to engage with psychologists. Perceived coercion led to psychological distress, wanting to resist, and superficial engagement. Despite this, therapeutic alliance was established with the psychologist but the quality of the therapeutic alliance was compromised. The findings have implications for psychologists working in FMH services. Suggestions for reducing perceived coercion and future directions for research are discussed.

'We try' - how nurses work with patient participation in forensic psychiatric care

RATIONALE

Patients in secure forensic psychiatric care have reduced autonomy because of the constraints imposed on them by compulsion laws. Thus, it is vital that nurses enable patient participation whenever possible. Patient participation, and it's clinical use in forensic psychiatric care, is an understudied field.

AIM

To describe nurses' experiences of their work with patient participation in forensic psychiatric care.

METHODS

Managers at different secure forensic psychiatric institutions in the south of Sweden approved the study, and oral consent was retrieved from informants. Interviews guided by a semi-structured interview guide were conducted with nine nurses from five different forensic psychiatric institutions and analysed with content analysis.

FINDINGS

Nurses describe diverse understandings and abilities in an inflexible setting. This indicates that what participation is, and how to achieve it, is not the same for nurses as for patients. Moreover, patients have different abilities to participate, and the secure setting in itself is perceived as hindering participatory work. Still, participation is described as a crucial part of work that requires a caring relationship. Furthermore, nurses pronounce potentially excluding attitudes and strategies that may obstruct patient participation for all, and at the same time, they have a belief that improvement is possible.

CONCLUSION

Compulsory forensic psychiatric care is a complex care context that requires constant efforts from nurses to balance patients' rights and needs with mandatory care. The very nature of this caring context appears to be a major obstacle when promoting patient participation. Nevertheless, nurses express that they do aim for patient participation, 'they try'. From a patient's perspective, trying is not sufficient and a need for improvement is evident. The results can be of clinical interest in similar secure forensic psychiatric nursing settings, and a point of departure in future development of care striving for increased patient participation for all.

Construct validity of the Mechanical Restraint - Confounders, Risk, Alliance Score (MR-CRAS): a new risk assessment instrument

Background: A new short-term risk assessment instrument, the Mechanical Restraint - Confounders, Risk, Alliance Score (MR - CRAS) checklist, including three subscales with altogether 18 items, has been developed in close collaboration with forensic mental health nurses, psychiatrists' etc., and shows evidence of being comprehensible, relevant, comprehensive and easy to use for assessing the patient's readiness to be released from mechanical restraint. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the subscales: confounders, risk and parameters of alliance constituted separate subscales and needed further revisions. Materials and methods: MR - CRAS was field-study tested among nurses, nurse assistants and social and health care assistants in 13 Danish closed forensic mental health inpatient units, and a Mokken analysis of scalability and a Spearman correlation analysis were performed. Results: MR - CRAS was completed by clinicians in 143 episodes of mechanical restraint, representing 88 patients, with a mean duration of 63.25 hours. Most patients were younger men, diagnosed within the schizophrenia spectrum. One-third of the patients had repeated mechanical restraint episodes ranging between 2 and 8 episodes. MR - CRAS and especially the parameters of alliance were perceived as usable for assessment of the patient's readiness to be released from mechanical restraint. The psychometric analyses showed that the three subscales were unidimensional. Conclusions: The study shows evidence of the construct validity of MR - CRAS among clinicians at closed forensic mental health inpatient units. MR - CRAS contributes with a common language and structured, systematic and transparent observations and assessments on an hour by hour basis during mechanical restraint.

Nursing Staff Talk: Resource or Obstacle for Forensic Psychiatric Patient Care?

Although forensic psychiatric care is located at the intersection of health care and the Swedish legal system, nursing research has not yet evaluated how language is context bound or its consequences for understanding patient care. The aim of this study was to explore how nursing staff talk about patient care in Swedish forensic psychiatric care and the implications for the care given to patients. The theoretical framework is based on social constructionism and sheds light on how language use can be understood as a social action. Twelve interviews were conducted with nursing staff working in forensic psychiatric settings. The questions focused on patient care in relation to activities, security, relationships with patients, and rules and routines. The results show that nursing staff assignments are encouraging them to use various interpretative repertoires to make meaning about their practice. The three interpretative repertoires were "taking responsibility for correcting patients' behavior," "justifying patient care as contradictory practice," and "patients as unpredictable." However, although forensic psychiatric care emphasizes both security and care, nursing staff's use of these interpretative repertoires provided multiple interpretations that lead to contradictory ways of understanding patient care. These findings show that talk itself can be understood as problematic in various situations. A possible implication for clinical forensic nursing practice might be that the nurse-patient relationship does not support patients' best interests. For example, when language endows the patient with certain characteristics, this talk is justified and given meaning by its context and thus has an influence on a patient's individual need for care.

'The Art of Understanding in Forensic Psychiatric Care' - From a Caring Science Perspective Based on a Lifeworld Approach

Patients in forensic psychiatric clinics are a vulnerable and exposed patient group due to suffering from a severe mental disorder, having committed a crime and being cared for against their will in an institutional environment with a high level of security. The art of understanding in forensic psychiatric care is discussed from a caring science perspective, based on a lifeworld approach. The aim is to contribute knowledge that can support staff, who daily meet patients on forensic psychiatric wards, in applying a caring attitude.

The Role of the Registered Nurse Working in Substance Use Disorder Treatment: A Hermeneutic Study

Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) are a national public health crisis. However, there is minimal existing research literature on the role of the nurse working in SUD treatment. The purpose of this study was to describe the meaning of the professional role of the registered nurse working in the SUD setting. The study utilized a Heideggerian Phenomenological approach with a modified Colaizzi method for analysis and interpretation. The nine study participants, two males and seven females, aged 27-60 had worked in SUD treatment for 1-37 years. Three major themes, with sub-themes, emerged: Defining the Role for Self; Learning the Role; and Navigating with Ease in an Unchangeable Culture. Findings demonstrated that nurses in SUD treatment value their role and the care of patients with SUDs. Patient recovery or relapse influenced job satisfaction. Significantly, the findings highlighted an outdated role with rigid boundaries and no real contemporary identity. Findings can be used to address the need for a contemporary SUD nursing identity and to support ongoing involvement of nurses in health policy related to SUDs.

Forensic mental health clinician's experiences with and assessment of alliance regarding the patient's readiness to be released from mechanical restraint

One of the main reasons for prolonged duration of mechanical restraint is patient behaviour in relation to the clinician-patient alliance. This article reports on the forensic mental health clinicians experiences of the clinician-patient alliance during mechanical restraint, and their assessment of parameters of alliance regarding the patient's readiness to be released from restraint. We used a qualitative, descriptive approach and conducted focus group interviews with nurses, nurse assistants and social and healthcare assistants. The results show that a pre-established personal clinician-patient alliance formed the basis for entering into, and weighing the quality of, the alliance during mechanical restraint. In consideration of the patient's psychiatric condition, the clinicians observed and assessed two quality parameters for the alliance: 'the patient's insight into or understanding of present situation' (e.g. the reasons for mechanical restraint and the behaviour required of the patient to discontinue restraint) and 'the patient's ability to have good and stable contact and cooperation with and across clinicians. These assessments were included, as a total picture of the quality of the alliance with the patient', in the overall team assessment of the patient's readiness to be released from mechanical restraint. The results contribute to inform the development of a short-term risk assessment instrument, with the aim of reducing the duration of mechanical restraint.

"Treat me with respect". A systematic review and thematic analysis of psychiatric patients' reported perceptions of the situations associated with the process of coercion

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Psychiatric patients have generally negative experiences of being exposed to coercive measures. Existing research has generally not investigated coercion as a process; that is, it does not address issues that arise before, during and after exposure to coercion. A part of existing research within the area does not clarify and define the type of coercive measure(s) investigated. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: Patients place great significance on the link between the positive and negative perceived impact of a coercive situation and the professionals' ability and willingness to interact and communicate respectfully. Psychiatric patients associate the use of seclusion, physical restraint/holding, mechanical restraint and forced medication with strong negative perceptions and wish to be treated with respect by professionals, rather than being subjected to the professionals' control. What patients perceive as moderating factors in regard to the use of coercive measures is currently under-researched. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Increased sensitivity to the patient's views of the situation at each point in the coercive process would help professionals to respond to the patients' individual needs. Professionals need to articulate concern and empathy towards patients and to improve communication skills before, during and after a coercive incident. Greater emphasis should be placed on de-escalation and the use of non-coercive strategies or coping skills before the initiation of coercive measures.

ABSTRACT

Introduction There is a lack of research into psychiatric patients' perceptions of coercion that discriminates between different types of coercive measures, while also investigating patients' perceptions of undergoing coercion as a process. This knowledge is required to improve our understanding and provide a foundation for improving clinical practice. Aims To review existing research literature in order to investigate adult psychiatric patients' reported perceptions of situations before, during and after specific and defined types of coercive measures, and to investigate what patients perceive as moderating factors, in regard to the use of these coercive measures. Method A systematic review and thematic analysis of 26 peer-reviewed studies was undertaken. Results The analysis identified six themes and additional subthemes, where "interactions with professionals" and "communication" were predominant themes across the timeline of coercion. Altogether, themes were associated with either "positive or negative patient-perceived impact." Implications for practice Increased sensitivity to patients' views of the situation at each point in the process is desirable in order to respond to the patients' individual needs. Professionals also need to articulate concern and empathy towards the patient and to improve communication skills before, during and after a coercive incident. Use of de-escalation and noncoercive strategies is required. Relevance statement Coercion within psychiatric/mental health care remains controversial, and repeated international calls have recommended a reduction of their use. This review indicates that greater attention to how patients perceive the use of coercive measures (before, during, and after incidents) needs to be considered in order to improve the evidence-based and clinical practice.

The state of Danish nursing ethnographic research: flowering, nurtured or malnurtured - a critical review

BACKGROUND

Nursing was established in Denmark as a scholarly tradition in the late nineteen eighties, and ethnography was a preferred method. No critical review has yet summarised accomplishments and gaps and pointing at directions for the future methodological development and research herein.

AIM

This review critically examines the current state of the use of ethnographic methodology in the body of knowledge from Danish nursing scholars.

METHODS

We performed a systematic literature search in relevant databases from 2003 to 2016. The studies included were critically appraised by all authors for methodological robustness using the ten-item instrument QARI from Joanna Briggs Institute.

RESULTS

Two hundred and eight studies met our inclusion criteria and 45 papers were included; the critical appraisal gave evidence of studies with certain robustness, except for the first question concerning the congruity between the papers philosophical perspective and methodology and the seventh question concerning reflections about the influence of the researcher on the study and vice versa. In most studies (n = 34), study aims and arguments for selecting ethnographic research are presented. Additionally, method sections in many studies illustrated that ethnographical methodology is nurtured by references such as Hammersley and Atkinson or Spradley.

CONCLUSIONS

Evidence exists that Danish nursing scholars' body of knowledge nurtures the ethnographic methodology mainly by the same few authors; however, whether this is an expression of a deliberate strategy or malnutrition in the form of lack of knowledge of other methodological options appears yet unanswered.

The Therapeutic Approach to a Patient's Criminal Offense in a Forensic Mental Health Nurse-Patient Relationship-The Nurses' Perspectives

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study is to describe the therapeutic approach to a patient's criminal offense in a forensic mental health nurse-patient relationship from the nurse's perspective.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Eight nurses in a Finnish forensic psychiatric hospital were interviewed, and the resultant research material was analyzed by inductive content analysis.

FINDINGS

The results revealed the process of the therapeutic approach to a patient's offense, which comprises numerous steps and various phases.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

For the nurse, the process of working through the offense can be divided into stages in which an attempt is made to respond to the patient's behavior and interaction in a manner that leads to working through the criminal act.

Supporting the Sexual Intimacy Needs of Patients in a Longer Stay Inpatient Forensic Setting

PURPOSE

To explore perceptions of nurses and patients regarding sexual intimacy in a long-term mental health unit.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Qualitative exploratory design including in-depth semi-structured individual interviews with 12 registered nurses and 10 long-term patients of a forensic mental health hospital.

FINDINGS

The theme of supporting sexual intimacy was identified and described in this paper and included the following subthemes for nurses: It depends on the setting, need for guidelines and consent, and for patients-it depends on the setting; and need for support.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The findings suggest that current guidelines regarding sexual intimacy in acute inpatient settings may not be appropriate in long-term facilities, with a need for guidelines to specifically address this setting. Furthermore, support for sexual intimacy needs of patients was identified as a strong need for patients and they believed not currently met. Nurses have an important role to play as part of their holistic approach to care and barriers to providing this aspect of care must be overcome to ensure patients' rights are respected.

Humor: Power Conveying Social Structures Inside Forensic Mental Health Nursing

According to research literature, humor inside the staff-patient interaction seems to be significant in the area of forensic mental healthcare. However, existing literature on the subject is limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the characteristics of the use humor by forensic mental health staff members in interactions with forensic mental health inpatients. The study included 32 forensic mental health staff members, used 307 hours of participant observations, 48 informal interviews, and seven formal semistructured interviews. Outcomes identify four themes concerning the conveyance of power to, from, and between forensic mental health staff and patients as they interact: (a) "the informal use: the human-to-human approach," characterized by an informal use of humor and without any reference to mental health issues; (b) the "formal use of humor: the staff-patient approach," characterized as formal with a view on the patient as mentally ill, unable to understand humor, and with the aim of using humor to prevent conflicts or negative behavior; (c) "protest against requested care: the human-patient approach," characterized by the use of humor as a protest against requested care; and the use of (d) "inadequacy humor: the staff-human approach," characterized by the use of inadequacy-humor referring to, for example, patients' physical features. Recommendations and clinical implications are discussed.

Mental Health Nursing, Mechanical Restraint Measures and Patients' Legal Rights

Coercive mechanical restraint (MR) in psychiatry constitutes the perhaps most extensive exception from the common health law requirement for involving patients in health care decisions and achieving their informed consent prior to treatment. Coercive measures and particularly MR seriously collide with patient autonomy principles, pose a particular challenge to psychiatric patients' legal rights, and put intensified demands on health professional performance. Legal rights principles require rationale for coercive measure use be thoroughly considered and rigorously documented. This article presents an in-principle Danish Psychiatric Complaint Board decision concerning MR use initiated by untrained staff. The case illustrates that, judicially, weight must be put on the patient perspective on course of happenings and especially when health professional documentation is scant, patients' rights call for taking notice of patient evaluations. Consequently, if it comes out that psychiatric staff failed to pay appropriate consideration for the patient's mental state, perspective, and expressions, patient response deviations are to be judicially interpreted in this light potentially rendering MR use illegitimated. While specification of law criteria might possibly improve law use and promote patients' rights, education of psychiatry professionals must address the need for, as far as possible, paying due regard to meeting patient perspectives and participation principles as well as formal law and documentation requirements.

An Interpretation of Nurse-Patient Relationships in Inpatient Psychiatry: Understanding the Mindful Approach

Nurses who work in acute inpatient psychiatry, where lengths of stay are increasingly shortened, struggle to establish therapeutic nurse–patient relationships. The purpose of this inquiry was to illuminate the nature of relationships between inpatient psychiatric mental health (PMH) nurses and their patients. The author used semistructured interviews and nonparticipant observation in an interpretive phenomenological inquiry. The data consisted of texts that were transcribed from narratives and observations. The meanings that were generated led to the uncovering of patterns of commonality, or themes. Of the themes uncovered, the theme of mindful approach highlighted PMH nurses as engaging with patients in distress, strategically creating encounters to establish a basis for ongoing therapeutic work. The PMH nurse–patient relationship in acute inpatient psychiatry continues to be under pressure, but nurses still carefully construct relational approaches in response to patient distress, and patients in these settings experience these approaches as meaningful to their recovery.

Engaging with Families Is a Challenge: Beliefs among Healthcare Professionals in Forensic Psychiatric Care

Being healthcare professionals in the complex field of forensic psychiatry care (FPC) seems particularly challenging. Historically, families have almost been invisible in FPC. The aim of this study was to uncover beliefs among healthcare professionals concerning families of patients admitted for FPC. Using a hermeneutical approach inspired by Gadamer's philosophy, group interviews with healthcare professionals in four Swedish forensic psychiatric clinics were analyzed. Analysis resulted in seven key beliefs. There were three beliefs about families: family belongingness is a resource for the patient; most families are broken and not possible to trust; and most families get in the way of the patient's care. Four beliefs concerned encounters with families: it is important to achieve a balance and control over the family; it is essential to set aside one's own values and morals; family-oriented work is an impossible mission; and family oriented work requires welcoming the families. Despite ethical dilemmas of working with families in FPC, healthcare professionals showed a willingness and desire to work in a more family-oriented manner. More knowledge, understanding, and caring tools are needed in order to meet the needs of the family as well as support the family's resources.

Caring Science and the Development of Forensic Psychiatric Caring

PURPOSE

This study aimed to discuss how caring science can contribute and provide a theoretical foundation for the development of caring within forensic psychiatric care.

CONCLUSIONS

It is not only a challenge but also a great opportunity to use caring science theory within forensic psychiatric care when caring for the patients and supporting their health processes.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

There is a need for more knowledge about, understanding of, and willingness to care for patients within forensic psychiatric settings in a "true caring" way. In order to achieve this, a caring culture is required, one that supports carers and provides them with opportunities to further develop a caring attitude.

Caring potentials in the shadows of power, correction, and discipline - Forensic psychiatric care in the light of the work of Michel Foucault

The aim of this article is to shed light on contemporary forensic psychiatric care through a philosophical examination of the empirical results from two lifeworld phenomenological studies from the perspective of patients and carers, by using the French philosopher Michel Foucault's historical-philosophical work. Both empirical studies were conducted in a forensic psychiatric setting. The essential results of the two empirical studies were reexamined in a phenomenological meaning analysis to form a new general structure in accordance with the methodological principles of Reflective Lifeworld Research. This general structure shows how the caring on the forensic psychiatric wards appears to be contradictory, in that it is characterized by an unreflective (non-)caring attitude and contributes to an inconsistent and insecure existence. The caring appears to have a corrective approach and thus lacks a clear caring structure, a basic caring approach that patients in forensic psychiatric services have a great need of. To gain a greater understanding of forensic psychiatric caring, the new empirical results were further examined in the light of Foucault's historical-philosophical work. The philosophical examination is presented in terms of the three meaning constituents: Caring as correction and discipline, The existence of power, and Structures and culture in care. The philosophical examination illustrates new meaning nuances of the corrective and disciplinary nature of forensic psychiatric care, its power, and how this is materialized in caring, and what this does to the patients. The examination reveals embedded difficulties in forensic psychiatric care and highlights a need to revisit the aim of such care.

Consumer sexual relationships in a forensic mental health hospital: perceptions of nurses and consumers

The management of consumer-related risk is paramount in a secure forensic mental health facility. However, the consequent risk aversion presents a major barrier to consumers forming sexual relationships in a manner that is open and accepted. Investigation of the views of nurses working in forensic mental health settings on this topic is limited, and even more so for consumers of services. This qualitative exploratory study was undertaken to elicit the views of consumers and nurses about forming sexual relationships within this long-term and secure setting. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 nurses and 10 consumers. The benefits of, and barriers to, sexual relationships was identified as a major theme, and these findings are the focus of this paper. Nurse responses included the subthemes 'supportive factors' and 'potential dangers', reflecting their qualified support. Consumer responses included the subthemes 'therapeutic', 'feeling normal', 'restrictions and barriers', and 'lack of support and secrecy'. The importance of sexual relationships was clearly articulated, as was the difficulties in forming and maintaining them within the forensic setting. More open discussion about this commonly-avoided issue and the education of nurses and other health professionals is required.

To do good might hurt bad: exploring nurses' understanding and approach to suffering in forensic psychiatric settings

Patients in forensic psychiatric settings not only have to deal with their mental illness, but also memories of criminal activities and being involuntarily hospitalized. The aim of the present study was to explore how nurses working in forensic psychiatric services understand and approach patients' experiences of suffering. Data were generated by semistructured interviews with psychiatric nurses from two different forensic psychiatric units in Sweden. Data were analysed by means of a hermeneutic approach inspired by Ricoeur's hermeneutics. The findings are reflected in four main themes: (i) ignoring suffering; (ii) explaining suffering as a natural and inevitable part of daily life in the forensic context; (iii) ascribing meaning to suffering; and, (iv) being present in suffering. To engage in alleviating suffering is a struggle that demands courage and the strength to reflect on its character and consequences. To encounter suffering means that nurses are not only confronted with patients' suffering, but also their own reactions to those patients. If suffering is not recognized or encountered, there is a risk that actions may have a negative impact on patients.

Who and What Does Involvement Involve? A Multi-Sited Field Study of Involvement of Relatives in Danish Psychiatry

This article gives an account of aspects of a multi-sited field study of involvement of relatives in Danish psychiatry. By following metaphors of involvement across three sites of the psychiatric system-a family site, a clinical site and a policy site-the first author (J.O.) investigated how, and on what grounds, involvement of relatives is perceived in Danish psychiatry. Paradoxically, the current understanding of involvement of relatives fails to take into consideration the perspectives of the relatives per se and families that were being studied. By analyzing involvement from a discourse theoretical perspective laid out by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, the aim of this study is to show how the dominant discourse about involvement at the political and clinical sites is constituted by understandings of mentally ill individuals and by political objectives of involvement. The analysis elucidates how a psycho-ideological discourse positions the mentally ill person as weak, incapable, and ineffective. By contrast, the supporting relative is positioned as a strong, capable, and effective co-therapist. Furthermore, the analysis considers how this dominant discourse of involvement is constituted by a broader discourse of neoliberalism and market orientation, which justifies involvement as a subtle institutionalization of social control. The article highlights that the role of the relative as a co-therapist may be contested by the families' discourse, which emphasizes issues concerning the responsibility toward the mental health of the ill individual as well as toward the psychological milieu of the family.