| Unit.B.8.2.
Forensic Psychiatric/Correctional Research |
[Unit
B.8.2]
[Unit
C.8.4] [Unit D.8.2]
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Australia |
focus
points
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"Studies
have confirmed the need for special knowledge for forensic
psychiatric nurses that work with extreme behavioral problems"
(Dhondea, 1995, p. 77).
"Studies
in the areas of forensic nursing have been few and there
is concerns about the survey type of research as it does
not reveal the real world of forensic nursing practice"
(Dhondea, 1995, p. 77).
"Ethnographers
seek to construct descriptions of the phenomena within the
various contexts and takes care to avoid purposive manipulation
of variables in the study. Goetz and LeCompte (1984) emphasize
that ethnographic design provides investigatory strategies
that are conducive to cultural construction" (Dhondea,
1995, p. 77).
"Ethnography
is also associated with anthropology. It aims to reconstruct
the showed belief that, practices, artifacts, folk knowledge
and behaviors of members of some groups" (Dhondea,
1995, p. 77).
"MacDonald
and Grogier's (1991) study on forensic psychiatric nursing
concluded that caring for an incarcerated population of
forensic psychiatric patients creates unique learning challenges
for nurses. They also concluded that it was important to
understand the complex roles of nurses working with people
with extreme behavior problems in order to identify their
specific learning needs" (Dhondea, 1995, p. 77).
Canada |
focus
points
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"Ethical
research involving humans requires that the experiment be
scientifically sound, that those participating give informed
consent, except in a few carefully defined situations, and
that the research not involve any unacceptable risk to the
participants" (Young,1998, p. 149).
"This commentary
discuses what has been written about risk in research in
some of the documents that have governed research in Canada:
The Nuremburg Code, the Declaration of Helsinki, the Medical
Research Council of Canada - Guidelines on research involving
human subjects (1987) and finally the Tri-Council Working
Group's Code of Ethical Conduct for Research involving humans"
(Young,1998, p. 149).
"The Nuremburg
Code was written primarily by jurists in the late 1940s.
Four items of the Nuremberg Code deal directly with risk:
- Item 5 states
that no experiment should be conducted where there is
a priori reason to believe that death or disabling injury
will occur, except where the experimenting physician also
serve as subjects.
- Item 4 states
that the experiment should be so conducted that as to
avoid all necessary physical and mental suffering and
injury.
- Item 6 states
that the degree of risk to be taken should never exceed
that determined by the humanitarian importance of the
problem to be solved by the experiment.
- Item 7 states
that proper preparations should be made to and adequate
facilities provided to protect the experimental subject
against even emote possibilities of injury, disability
or death" (Nurenburg Code, 1949, sited in Young,1998,
149-150).
"The
first code of ethics for research with human subjects
emanated from the famous Doctors' Trial which took place
in Nuremberg between 1947 and 1949. This trial focused
on the Nazi doctors' experiments on prisoners in concentration
camps--experiments that included exposure to extreme
cold, high altitudes, mustard gas, sulfanilamide, sea
water, and incendiary bombs (Marrus, 1999, cited in
Regehr, Edwardh, & "Bradford, 2000, p. 892).
"While we have, as Canadians, been for the most
part immune from these exposes, many concerns about
research in Canada have recently been raised as a result
of the lawsuit of Dorothy Parker, one of 23 inmates
involved with LSD experiments conducted between 1960
and 1963 at Kingston Prison for Women (13). Pursuant
to this case, Ms Parker's attorneys cited evidence that
psychotropic drugs were also tested in Kingston Penitentiary
in 1960, and in Collins Bay Prison in 1973. Moreover,
they presented evidence of abuses elsewhere, including
a 1964 letter wherein the federal government permitted
researchers to give nightly steroid enemas for up to
3 weeks to inmates at Collins Bay Prison to assess whether
rectal irritation occurred (Regehr, Edwardh, & Bradford,
2000, p. 893).
"Other examples of abuse included permission granted
in 1972 to test penicillin on inmates in Quebec and
a 1967 study in which the federal government used inmates
to test the effects of ingesting pesticides. Canada's
justice minister had decided in 1949 that consent from
inmates was unnecessary for ECT experiments; however,
by the early 1960s, Corrections Canada's policy was
that consent was a prerequisite for scientific experiments
(13). The degree to which this consent is free and informed
among involuntarily detained individuals nevertheless
remains questionable (Regehr, Edwardh, & Bradford,
2000, p. 893).
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International |
focus
points
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focus points here
United Kingdom |
focus
points
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Insert forensic
focus points here
| Types of
Threats in Researching Sensitive Topics:
Research
as Threat:
- Intrusive
threat
- Threat
of sanction
- Political
threat
Threat
to Researcher:
- Stigma
contagion
- Career
dangers
- Anonymous
dangers
- Presentational
dangers (Mason, 1997, p. 85)
|
"Mix of
Principles and Practices to Aid Resistance to Research Censorship:
- Maintain
a firm belief in the intellectual development of your
profession.
- Have your
work peer reviewed in the scientific community.
- Ensure that
your research is supervised by recognized experts.
- Provide a
disclaimer in scientific papers.
- Take every
opportunity to debate, in public, the issues involved
in censorship.
- If your paper
is honest, non-libellous, and peer reviewed then stand
by your research.
- If you submit
your paper for internal scrutiny by non academics, then
accept that their suggestions are advisory only and decline
to change the paper if you do not think that it is appropriate,
or it changes the meaning, or it is false.
- Keeps a log
of all threats, including the names of those involved,
the date the time and the content of the threat.
- Make formal
complaints when necessary.
- Ensure that
you subscribe to a professional body". (Mason, 1997,
p. 90-91).
"It is essential that nurses working in this field are aware of the power/knowledge equation that frames their practice, research and education" (Mason & Mercer, 1996, 153).
United States |
focus
points
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Insert forensic
focus points here
Focus Points
Reference
Dhondea, R. (1995).
An ethnographic study of nurses in a forensic psychiatric
setting: Education and training implications. Australia
and New Zealand Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 4,
77-82.
Mason, T. (1997).
Censorship of research in the health service setting. Nurse
Researcher, 4 (4), 83- 92.
Mason, T. &
Mercer, D. (1996). Forensic psychiatric nursing: Vision
of social control. Australian and New Zealand Journal
of Mental Health Nursing, 5, 153-162.
Regehr, C., Edwardh,
M. , & Bradford, J. (2000). Research ethics and forensic
patients. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 45(10),
892-899. Retrieved December 19, 2002, from Academic Search
Premier database: http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=4003664&db=aph
Young, S.N. (1998).
Risk in research- from the Nuremberg Code to the Tri-Council
Code: Implications for clinical trials of psychotropic drugs.
Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 23 (3), 149-155.
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B - Forensic Psychiatry > Section B.8.0. Forensic Future > Unit.B.8.2.
Forensic Psychiatric/Correctional Research
