title: The rhetoric of therapy in forensic psychiatric nursing.
abstract: The objective of this paper is to present the results obtained from a qualitative research study conducted in a forensic psychiatric setting and to explore the dual role associated with being both "agents of care and agents of social control." Following the narratives provided by nurses working in this field, the analysis that follows will problematize the rhetoric of therapy in forensic psychiatric nursing. In order to support the analysis, this article comprises four sections. The first section will briefly review the study's methodological considerations. Using a combination of Foucault and Goffman's work, the second section provides an empirical contextualization of correctional environments and their effects on nursing care. The third section explains the effects of having a contradictory mandate of care and custody from Festinger's (1957) theory of cognitive dissonance. Lastly, the fourth section provides a critique of disciplinary interventions in forensic psychiatric nursing, as it is explained by the participants.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. jeandaniel.jacob@uottawa.ca
authors.forename: Jean Daniel
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Jacob
mesh_terms: D053604:Forensic Nursing; D006801:Humans; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D011329:Prisoners; D011330:Prisons; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012926:Social Control, Formal