Therapeutic characteristics of nursing staff in a medium secure setting

This article discusses the therapeutic and security roles of forensic nursing staff, in medium secure units, viewed as they are by male patients with learning disabilities or mentally disordered patients (the ‘men’) as providing “a source of treatment, comfort, and advice”, but also as “part of the system that deprives them of their liberty”, respectively, which can cause problems for both nurses and patients. Following an introduction, topics such as ‘forensic practice’, ‘therapeutic relationships’, ;the therapy/security paradox’, ‘custodial care’, ‘positive aspects of caring’, ‘characteristics of the “good” nurse’ and ‘discourse’ are discussed prior to describing the methods involved in this retrospective discourse analysis of a local study from the UK. The research involved interviews, group workshops, focus groups and written accounts with and from 10 nursing staff, 3 researchers and 7 ‘men’ about their beliefs about forensic nursing characteristics/practices and ‘truths’ about staff-user relationships. These authors quote the participants’ own words while discussing findings. They claim that ‘staff take pleasure in the men’s achievements’ and ‘men and staff enjoy each others’ company’ and list implications for future practice.