Journal of Forensic Nursing最新文献

Aims: Women of color are disproportionally affected by intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual assault (SA), and those on college campuses may have additional risk factors. The purpose of this study was to explore how college-affiliated women of color assign meaning to their interaction with individuals, authorities, and organizations tasked to help survivors of SA and IPV.

Methods: Semistructured focus group interviews ( N = 87) were transcribed and analyzed using Charmaz's constructivist grounded theory methodology.

Results: Three priority theoretical elements were identified: what hurts , namely, distrust, uncertain outcomes, and silencing of experiences; what helps , namely, support, autonomy, and safety; and desired outcomes , namely, academic progress, supportive social networks, and self-care.

Conclusion: Participants were concerned about uncertain outcomes of their interaction with organizations and authorities that are set to help victims. Results can inform forensic nurses and other professionals about the care priorities and needs of college-affiliated women of color in the context of IPV and SA.

Abstract: Social justice is a core value of nursing and is deeply rooted within forensic nursing. Forensic nurses are uniquely positioned to examine and address social determinants of health that contribute to victimization, lack of access to forensic nursing services, and inability to utilize resources and services aimed at restoring health after an injury or illness related to trauma or violence. To achieve this, forensic nursing capacity and expertise must be strengthened through robust education. A graduate, forensic nursing, program sought to address this educational need by integrating content related to social justice, health equity, health disparity, and social determinants of health throughout its specialty curriculum.

Abstract: Every year, an estimated 246 million children are subject to some form of gender-based violence, including mistreatment, bullying, psychological abuse, and sexual harassment. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, or questioning youth are at a heightened risk of experiencing violence and have unique health, educational, and social needs. Fostering an atmosphere of support and acceptance can help alleviate many of these negative outcomes.

Abstract: Sexual violence is a major public health problem that negatively affects millions of Americans. Persons who have experienced sexual violence may choose to undergo a medical forensic examination and complete a sexual assault kit to collect and preserve evidence. DNA evidence is an impactful tool that has the potential to confirm an assailant's identity, reveal previously unknown offenders, connect serial predators to other crime scenes, exonerate the wrongly convicted, and prevent future acts of sexual violence. However, many of these kits have become "backlogged," meaning that evidence was not submitted by law enforcement for testing or DNA analysis was not completed by the crime laboratory, thereby denying justice and closure for victims. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the backlog of untested sexual assault kits in the United States and describe a case in which a serial offender was apprehended because of the testing of backlogged kits. In addition, this call to action aims to raise awareness regarding kit processing and promote advocacy among forensic nurses.

Abstract: Child sexual abuse is a major public health problem. About one in every four girls and one in every 13 boys in the United States experience sexual abuse. In order to best serve these patients and families, the forensic nurse examiner team from a large urban Level 1 trauma center partnered with the local child advocacy center to provide ready access to educated, competent pediatric examiners who provide developmentally appropriate medical forensic care in a child-friendly environment. Consistent with national best practice standards, this occurs as part of a coordinated, colocated, highly functional multidisciplinary team. These services are provided free of charge and regardless of timeline from abuse. This partnership removes several key barriers to this care, including difficulty coordinating with multiple organizations, cost, lack of knowledge regarding available resources, and decreased ability to provide medical forensic care to nonacute patients.

Background/aims: Reproductive coercion (RC) is a widespread yet understudied type of intimate partner violence that is associated with numerous negative outcomes. Women with disabilities may be at an increased risk of RC; however, little research has been conducted among this population. Using population-based data, we sought to examine the prevalence of RC in postpartum women with disabilities.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey, the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, a nationally representative survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with participating states. These analyses include 3,117 respondents who had information on both disability status and experiences of RC.

Results: Approximately 1.9% of respondents reported experiencing RC (95% CI [1.3, 2.4]). When stratified by disability status, approximately 1.7% of respondents without a disability reported RC whereas 6.2% of respondents with at least one disability reported RC ( p < 0.001). In univariable logistic models, disability, age, education, relationship status, income, and race were all significantly associated with RC.

Conclusions: Our findings highlight the need for healthcare providers working with women with disabilities to screen for RC and potentially uncover intimate partner violence and prevent its negative health consequences. All states participating in Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System data collection are urged to incorporate measures of RC and disability status to better address this significant issue.

Overview: This meta-ethnography synthesizes the findings of seven qualitative studies on the experiences of people who are incarcerated in accessing mental health care with a goal of better understanding the scope of these experiences and identifying gaps in custodial mental health care. Noblit and Hare's meta-ethnographic approach was used.

Findings: Five themes were identified: stressful incarceration environments, lack of resources, care is not patient centered, lack of trust, and the value of therapeutic relationships. Findings suggest that the custodial mental healthcare system may provide care that is misaligned with the needs of people who are accessing it.

Limitations: Limitations of this meta-ethnography include the small number of studies identified for review, the diverse foci of the studies, the diversity of the custodial and mental health systems in the four countries from which the studies came, and the unaddressed mixing of jail and prison data in three of the studies.

Implications: Future research should focus on obtaining additional perspectives from people who are accessing custodial mental healthcare services in jail and prison, exploring the differences between the experiences of people in jail versus prison, and identifying ways to develop and maintain high-quality therapeutic relationships between people who are incarcerated and custodial mental healthcare providers, including nurses who work in custodial facilities.

Aim: A prospective design was used to investigate the relationship of current psychiatric symptoms of incarcerated people with serious mental illness (SMI) and aggressive behavior on a penitentiary ward for crisis intervention.

Methods: One hundred sixty detainees with SMI, detained in a high-security penitentiary psychiatric facility, were screened every 2 weeks with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale-Extended (BPRS-E) by trained clinicians, to ensure that the data on psychiatric symptoms were up-to-date. Aggressive behavior was registered with the Staff Observation Aggression Scale-Revised. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the relationships between factor scores of the BPRS-E and aggressive behavior.

Results: Significant relationships between the BPRS-E factor hostility, antisocial traits, and aggressive incidents were found, but not between the positive symptoms or manic factor scores and aggressive incidents.

Discussion: Symptoms of SMI measured with the BPRS-E did not help to explain the occurrence of aggressive behavior. This is not in line with what is commonly found. The implication is that it can be expected that this population will display aggressive behavior but that symptoms do not help in predicting when this will occur. In addition, hostility and antisocial traits were related to aggressive behavior. For this specific population, an interactional approach might be more effective in the management of aggression than treatment of symptoms of SMI.