User involvement in structured violence risk management within forensic mental health facilities – a systematic literature review

Aims and objectives To examine empirical literature on user involvement in collaboration between patients and nurses. The scope of the review was limited to structured violence risk management interventions in forensic mental health settings. Background Violence in forensic mental health settings represents a significant problem for patients and staff. Structured violence risk management interventions in forensic mental health have been reported to ignore patient participation, despite the growing attention on user involvement in clinical practice. Design A systematic review. Method Searches were conducted in six databases: the Cochrane Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE, CINAHL, ProQuest, ScienceDirect and PsycINFO. Papers were assessed according to a predetermined set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results After searches of the reference lists of retrieved articles were conducted, only three papers met the inclusion criteria. Conclusions This review has shown that empirical research on the topic of risk management interventions in which patients are involved is scarce. Relevance to clinical practice There is barely any research evidence of the clinical effect of user involvement approaches on violence risk management in forensic mental health practice. Therefore, we suggest that clinicians may learn from positive experiences concerning user involvement in general psychiatry and carefully adapt and test them out in the forensic treatment context.