IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v220y2019icp273-282.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agents and spectres: Life-space on a medium secure forensic psychiatric unit

Author

Listed:
  • Reavey, P.
  • Brown, S.D.
  • Kanyeredzi, A.
  • McGrath, L.
  • Tucker, I.

Abstract

Medium secure forensic psychiatric units are unique environments within the broader ‘post asylum’ landscape of mental health services. Length of stay is much greater, a recovery-focused care system is much more difficult to implement, and there is a paucity of suitable “step-down” services. The aim of this study was to examine how forensic psychiatric environments contribute to the shaping of recovery, by examining key features such as social interactions and agency. Here, we report on the findings from patients participating in a qualitative-visual study. This analysis forms part of larger study on staff and patient experiences of secure hospital space. In this paper, the analytical focus is directed towards two key elements of recovery - agency and relationality, using the concept of ‘topology’ and ‘life-space’, developed by the social psychologist Kurt Lewin. First, we explore how patients have relative freedom to move within institutional spaces, yet lack relational space. Secondly, we explore how life-space is expanded or compressed by the manner in which the patient's present life in hospital is connected or disconnected from their past or pending future. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for a recovery model within secure forensic settings, focused on personalisation and expanded life-space.

Suggested Citation

  • Reavey, P. & Brown, S.D. & Kanyeredzi, A. & McGrath, L. & Tucker, I., 2019. "Agents and spectres: Life-space on a medium secure forensic psychiatric unit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 273-282.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:220:y:2019:i:c:p:273-282
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.11.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953618306464
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.11.012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Curtis, Sarah & Gesler, Wilbert & Wood, Victoria & Spencer, Ian & Mason, James & Close, Helen & Reilly, Joseph, 2013. "Compassionate containment? Balancing technical safety and therapy in the design of psychiatric wards," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 201-209.
    2. Quirk, Alan & Lelliott, Paul & Seale, Clive, 2006. "The permeable institution: An ethnographic study of three acute psychiatric wards in London," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(8), pages 2105-2117, October.
    3. Cameron Duff, 2016. "Atmospheres of recovery: Assemblages of health," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(1), pages 58-74, January.
    4. McGrath, Laura & Reavey, Paula, 2015. "Seeking fluid possibility and solid ground: Space and movement in mental health service users' experiences of ‘crisis’," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 115-125.
    5. Sarah Curtis & Wil Gesler & Kathy Fabian & Susan Francis & Stefan Priebe, 2007. "Therapeutic Landscapes in Hospital Design: A Qualitative Assessment by Staff and Service Users of the Design of a New Mental Health Inpatient Unit," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 25(4), pages 591-610, August.
    6. Wood, Victoria J. & Curtis, Sarah E. & Gesler, Wil & Spencer, Ian H. & Close, Helen J. & Mason, James & Reilly, Joe G., 2013. "Creating ‘therapeutic landscapes’ for mental health carers in inpatient settings: A dynamic perspective on permeability and inclusivity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 122-129.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wood, Victoria J. & Curtis, Sarah E. & Gesler, Wil & Spencer, Ian H. & Close, Helen J. & Mason, James M. & Reilly, Joe G., 2013. "Spaces for smoking in a psychiatric hospital: Social capital, resistance to control, and significance for ‘therapeutic landscapes’," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 104-111.
    2. Jacqueline McIntosh & Bruno Marques & Gabrielle Jenkin, 2022. "The Role of Courtyards within Acute Mental Health Wards: Designing with Recovery in Mind," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-21, September.
    3. Bell, Sarah L. & Foley, Ronan & Houghton, Frank & Maddrell, Avril & Williams, Allison M., 2018. "From therapeutic landscapes to healthy spaces, places and practices: A scoping review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 123-130.
    4. Melo, Sara, 2018. "The role of place on healthcare quality improvement: A qualitative case study of a teaching hospital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 136-142.
    5. Andrews, Gavin J. & Duff, Cameron, 2019. "Matter beginning to matter: On posthumanist understandings of the vital emergence of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 123-134.
    6. Taheri, Shima & Ghasemi Sichani, Maryam & Shabani, Amirhosein, 2021. "Evaluating the literature of therapeutic landscapes with an emphasis on the search for the dimensions of health: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    7. Wood, Victoria J. & Curtis, Sarah E. & Gesler, Wil & Spencer, Ian H. & Close, Helen J. & Mason, James & Reilly, Joe G., 2013. "Creating ‘therapeutic landscapes’ for mental health carers in inpatient settings: A dynamic perspective on permeability and inclusivity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 122-129.
    8. Houghton, Frank & Houghton, Sharon, 2015. "Therapeutic micro-environments in the Edgelands: A thematic analysis of Richard Mabey's The Unofficial Countryside," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 280-286.
    9. Högström, Ebba & Philo, Chris, 2023. "‘Let there be light’ or life in the dark? Vital geographies of mental healthcare," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    10. Jeffries, Jayne M., 2018. "Negotiating acquired spinal conditions: Recovery with/in bodily materiality and fluids," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 61-69.
    11. Ola Söderström & Dag Söderström & Zoé Codeluppi & Lilith Abrahamyan Empson & Philippe Conus, 2017. "Emplacing recovery: how persons diagnosed with psychosis handle stress in cities," Psychosis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 322-329, October.
    12. Norvoll, Reidun & Pedersen, Reidar, 2016. "Exploring the views of people with mental health problems' on the concept of coercion: Towards a broader socio-ethical perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 204-211.
    13. Curtis, Sarah & Gesler, Wilbert & Wood, Victoria & Spencer, Ian & Mason, James & Close, Helen & Reilly, Joseph, 2013. "Compassionate containment? Balancing technical safety and therapy in the design of psychiatric wards," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 201-209.
    14. Golden, Annis G., 2014. "Permeability of public and private spaces in reproductive healthcare seeking: Barriers to uptake of services among low income African American women in a smaller urban setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 137-146.
    15. Martin, Daryl & Nettleton, Sarah & Buse, Christina, 2019. "Affecting care: Maggie's Centres and the orchestration of architectural atmospheres," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    16. Huang, Liyuan & Xu, Honggang, 2018. "Therapeutic landscapes and longevity: Wellness tourism in Bama," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 24-32.
    17. McGrath, Laura & Reavey, Paula, 2015. "Seeking fluid possibility and solid ground: Space and movement in mental health service users' experiences of ‘crisis’," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 115-125.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:220:y:2019:i:c:p:273-282. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.