NURSES EXPERIENCE WITH USING FORCE IN INSTITUTIONAL CARE OF PSYCHIATRIC-PATIENTS

Involuntary psychiatric care has a long tradition and is approved of e ven in contemporary legislation. To illustrate the experiences of nurs es who participate in compulsory treatment, narrative interviews were conducted with a nursing staff (seven registered nurses and seven enro lled nurses). Ali narrated one to five stories from their personal exp erience in which force was used against a patient, apart from one who only spoke in general terms about the use of force against patients, T he commonest type of situation described was providing coercion in con nection with giving a compulsory injection to a patient (n = 11). None of the interviewees wanted to use force against patients, and when si tuations requiring its use occurred, they wished they did not have to participate. In spite of this they seemed to accept the use of force a s a part of their work as psychiatric nurses. The interviewees explain ed and justified the use of force with examples of weak paternalism: t hey are the patients' helpers when they are not able to take care of t hemselves. Although the interviewees had many clear reasons why the us e of force is necessary in psychiatric care; nevertheless, its use inc urred many feelings of discomfort. They emphasized the importance of t he method used when forcing patients and tried to choose a way that av oided violence and struggle. The study points to 1) the need to find a lternatives to the use of force and 2) the need for communication betw een physicians and nursing staff about the use of force.