Is a Forensic Cohabitation Program Recovery-Oriented? A Logic Model Analysis

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-12, Vol.19 (1), p.9
• Main Authors: Chen, Shu-Ping, Chang, Wen-Pin, Fleet, Bryan, Rai, Santoch, Panteluk, Steve, Choy, Alberto, Hunter, DeAnn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Babies; Cohabitation; Content analysis; Critical components; Data collection; Decision making; Drug use; Female; Forensic psychiatry; Forensic science; Health care; Health Personnel; Health services; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Logic; Meetings; Mental disorders; Mental Health; Mental health care; Mental Health Services; Patients; Polycystic ovary syndrome; Principles; Program evaluation; Psychiatric Rehabilitation; Psychosis; Qualitative analysis; Qualitative research; Rehabilitation; Resource management; Risk management; Risk taking; Schizophrenia; Security; Violence
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19010009

Recovery orientation is a movement in mental health practice. Although general mental health services have taken the lead in promoting recovery, forensic psychiatric systems have lagged behind because of the need to reconcile recovery principles with the complexities of legal mandates. Advocating recovery and making systemic changes can be challenging because they require seeking a balance between the competing duties to the patient and the public. This paper used a logic model framework to demonstrate a cohabitation program that placed a woman and her newborn infant in a secure forensic rehabilitation unit, and analyzed the key assumptions of recovery upon which it was based. This was a qualitative program evaluation. Data collection involved individual interviews with the woman, the infant's father, five primary healthcare providers, and five system administrators, and 11 focus groups with unit staff and other patients. Content analysis was used to guide the data analysis and develop the critical components of the program logic model. A logic model that consists of input (team building, program planning, staff and patient preparation, resource management), output (logistic activities, risk management, mental healthcare, staff/other patient support, discharge preparation), and outcome (individual, provider, system, and society) components was developed. This study demonstrates a recovery-oriented program for a woman cohabitating with her baby in a secure forensic psychiatric rehabilitation unit. The logic model provided a comprehensive understanding of the way the recovery principles, such as shared decision-making, positive risk-taking, informed choices, and relational security, were implemented.