User involvement in forensic psychiatric care (USEFOR).

The project involves several studies of patient participation in forensic psychiatric care. According to the Swedish law, care shall promote patient participation and be based on the patient's will. Coercion and patient participation are the antithesis of each other, thus leading to special challenges in forensic psychiatric care.

We want to explore how patient participation can be understood in forensic psychiatry from both staff and patient perspectives. Mostly we will use life-world-oriented interviews to study the phenomenon, but also a survey study will also be conducted.

Since participation in the form of shared decision-making is such a central part of working person-centered, it is important to explore the phenomenon in order to provide a better basis for the larger discussion about person-centered care in forensic psychiatry.