Examining the Attitudes and Experiences of Nurses Working in a High Security Forensic Psychiatry Unit from a Psychiatric Perspective

Year 2025, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 129 - 135, 15.01.2025

Dilek Örüm , Murad Atmaca

https://doi.org/10.37990/medr.1588069

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to examine the approaches, attitudes, and experiences of nurses working in a High Security Forensic Psychiatry Unit (HSFPU) towards psychiatric disorders, conditions, and treatments and to reveal the associated factors.
Material and Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted with nurses working at Elazığ Fethi Sekin City Hospital HSFPU who agreed to participate in the study. The participants filled out the Nurses’ Attitudes Towards Forensic Psychiatric Patients Scale (NAFPPS) along with a questionnaire including various variables.
Results: Thirty-two nurses (22 females (68.80%), 10 males (31.20%)) were included in the study. Twenty-two nurses (31.20%) did not have sufficient knowledge of the Penal Code of Türkiye 32 (PCT 32). The psychiatric disorder that nurses found easiest to predict was bipolar spectrum disorder (43.80%), while the one that nurses found most difficult to predict was schizophrenia spectrum disorder (62.50%). The illicit substance that caused the most difficulty in nursing care was methamphetamine for 19 nurses (59.40%). Nurses' command of psychiatric terminology was not at the desired level. Twenty-three nurses (71.90%) thought that antidepressants caused addiction. Almost all of the nurses (96.90%) thought that antisocial and borderline personality traits make nursing care difficult. According to regression analysis, working duration in HFSPU predicts NAFPPS willingness to provide care subscale (constant p<0.001; working duration in HFSPU p=0.039), while NAFPPS willingness to provide care subscale predicts routine learning of psychiatric diagnosis in nursing care (constant p=0.048, NAFPPS willingness to provide care p=0.037).
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that nurses' knowledge and experience levels regarding psychiatric treatment practices were quite high, but not at the desired level regarding forensic and psychiatric terminology. It was suggested that the necessary improvements would be provided through in-service training including psychiatric nursing, forensic psychiatric nursing, psychiatry, psychology, and social services.

Keywords

Nurse , nursing care , forensic nursing , psychiatric nursing , forensic psychiatry

References

• Kaplan A. Homeless patients in high security forensic psychiatry hospitals. Uluslararası Sosyal Hizmet Araştırmaları Dergisi. 2023;3:49-59.
• Kizilpinar SC, Kilic Demir B. Investigation of self-stigmatization and perceptions towards delinguency in inpatient individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia in high-security forensic psychiatry settings in Turkiye. Turkish J Clin Psych. 2024;27:127-38.
• Baysan Arabacı L, Çam MO. The attitudes nurses working at psychiatric hospitals in Turkey have towards forensic psychiatric patients and the associated factors. Turk Psikiyatri Derg. 2013;24:253-9.
• Polat H, Asi Karakaş SA. Forensic psychiatric nursing. J Midwifery and Health Sci. 2020;3:225-32.
• Dikeç G, Baysan-Arabacı L, Taş G. The roles and responsibility of forensic psychiatric nurses: a systematic review. Journal of Psychiatric Nursing. 2017;8:157-64.
• Örüm MH. Characteristics of cases hospitalized in a mental health and diseases hospital within the scope of article 432 of the Turkish civil code. Journal of Dependence. 2021;22:226-35.
• Yıldız S, Kazğan A, Kurt O, Sırlıer-Emir B. Childhood trauma and dissociative symptoms in patients treated in the forensic psychiatry service. Current Approaches in Psychiatry. 2021;13:216-26.
• Kazgan Kilicaslan A, Yildiz S, Sirlier Emir B, Kurt O. Internalized stigma, perceived social support, and life quality in patients admitted to a forensic psychiatry unit. J Ist Faculty Med. 2022;85:378-87.
• First MB, Clarke DE, Yousif L, et al. DSM-5-TR: Rationale, process, and overview of changes. Psychiatry Serv. 2023;74:869-75.
• Pompili M, Ducci G, Galluzzo A, et al. The management of psychomotor agitation associated with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder: A brief review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18:4368.
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. World Drug Report 2023. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/world-drug-report-2023.html access date 6.12.2024.
• Glasner-Edwards S, Mooney LJ. Methamphetamine psychosis: epidemiology and management. CNS Drugs. 2014;28:1115-26.
• Örüm D, Örüm MH, Kapıcı Y, Abuş S. Ten-year cardiovascular disease risk and related factors in lifetime marijuana use with comorbid methamphetamine-associated psychotic disorder: a QRISK®3 study. BMC Psychiatry. 2024;24:563.
• Jackson JL, Choi A. From the editors desk: the Quandary of difficult patients. J Gen Intern Med. 2020;35:2519-20.