Reducing violence in forensic care – how does it resemble the domains of a recovery-oriented care?

Abstract

Background: Forensic psychiatry is characterized by involuntary treatment and risk of violence. The concept of recovery is rarely in focus as the primary focus is on risk assessment, violence prevention and reducing coercion in care.

Aim: To determine what resources forensic staff use to avoid or prevent violent situations, and to explore how these practices resemble the domains of recovery-oriented care.

Method: Semi-structured interviews with staff who were identified by forensic patients as key workers in their recovery process. Interview texts were analyzed using interpretive content analysis.

Results: Staff prevent violent situations using tacit knowledge and experience, and through a shared collegial responsibility. Staff safeguard patients, encourage patient participation, and provide staff consistency.

Conclusions: The results have implications for forensic care as well as psychiatry regarding the process of making recovery a reality for patients in the forensic care setting.

Keywords:

• Forensic care
• reducing violence
• recovery
• interviews

Acknowledgements

We are deeply grateful to all our participants for sharing their narratives with us. The authors wish to express their gratitude to the staff at the Research and Development department at the Sundsvall Forensic Psychiatric Hospital for all their help and support with this study.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.