A forensic psychiatric nurse is conducting an educational workshop with prison staff in an effort to help them better understand the effects of mental health on incarcerated clients' behavior

Question

Which of the following teaching points should the nurse communicate to the prison staff?
A) "People can often come into prison in a healthy state and then become mentally ill while they're here."
B) "You'll find that empathy can actually manage aggressive behavior better than any other technique."
C) "Because funding is readily available, many inmates are able to recover from pre-existing mental illnesses while in prison."
D) "The predictable and structured environment of a prison is actually beneficial to many offenders who have mental illness."

Answer 1

Ans: A
Feedback:
Forensic psychiatric nurses provide care not only for offenders who enter correctional systems with mental disorders but also for people who become mentally ill while incarcerated. Empathy is important, but it is simplistic to conclude that it can always defuse aggressive behavior. Funding for mental health care is not considered to be adequate in the prison system and the unpredictable nature of prison is not conducive to mental health.