Forensic learning disability nursing skills and competencies: a study of forensic and non-forensic nurses

This paper reports on an investigation into the skills and competencies of forensic learning disability nurses in the United Kingdom. The two sample populations were forensic learning disability nurses from the high, medium, and low secure psychiatric services and non-forensic learning disability nurses from generic services. An information gathering schedule was used to collect the data; of 1200 schedules, 643 were returned for a response rate of 53.5%. The data identified the "top ten" problems that forensic learning disability nurses may encounter, the skills and competencies necessary to overcome them, and the areas that need to be developed in the future. The results indicated that the forensic learning disability nurses tended to focus on the physical aspects to the role whilst the non-forensic learning disability nurses tended to perceive the forensic role in relational terms. This has implications for practice, policy, and procedures.