Testing a recovery-oriented nursing communication framework to encourage collaboration and discussion about...

Area of Science:

• Forensic mental health nursing
• Psychiatric care

Background:

• Recovery-oriented practice is crucial in healthcare.
• Limited research exists on integrating recovery principles in forensic mental health settings.
• Aggression management is a key challenge in forensic mental health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To co-develop and test a recovery-oriented script for forensic nurses communicating with high-risk patients.
• To examine if explicit empathic statements in the script enhance nurse perceptions of empathy.
• To explore nurses' views on the script's potential for aggression prevention.

Main Methods:

• Co-development of a recovery-oriented script with nurses and a lived experience expert.
• Randomized controlled trial where nurses read either an empathic or non-empathic script.
• Quantitative assessment using a recovery-oriented practice scale and qualitative analysis of open-ended questions.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in perceived empathy between the empathic and non-empathic scripts.
• Nurses perceived that both script versions held potential for aggression prevention.
• Content analysis revealed positive nurse perceptions regarding the script's utility.

Conclusions:

• Explicit empathic statements did not significantly alter nurses' perceptions of script empathy.
• Recovery-oriented communication scripts may be perceived by nurses as valuable tools for de-escalation in forensic settings.
• Further research is needed to refine and validate such communication strategies for forensic mental health care.