Development and Adoption of the Forensic Mental Health Nursing Standards of Practice for the International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services

Forensic mental health nursing is a specialised area of practice. To guide practice, education and research, standards of practice for forensic mental health nursing were developed by senior nurses in Australia over two decades ago. The aim of this study was to review the existing standards of practice with forensic mental health nurses from a variety of countries to determine if these standards could be adapted and adopted as a set of international standards for the International Association of Forensic Mental Services. Eighteen nurses participated in one of four focus groups. Thematic analysis interpreted four themes: (1) Acknowledgment of the Standards; (2) Capturing the context in the standards; (3) The projected solution; and (4) The value of the Standards with three subthemes (i) Auditing of current practice (ii) Staff development and (iii) Conveying the specialty to others. There was support for a set of international forensic mental health nursing standards of practice; however, adaptations were considered necessary to ensure they captured the contemporary clinical context and were suitable for all settings where forensic mental health nurses practice. Updated standards may show promise in conveying the speciality, gauging practice and demonstrating the nursing contribution to care.