What Is so Special about Forensic Psychiatric Professionals? Towards a Definition of Forensic Vigilance in Forensic Psychiatry

Abstract

ABSTRACT Forensic professionals have a unique role due to the precarious balance between providing care and enforcing control. In the Netherlands, the term “forensische scherpte”, which we translated as “forensic vigilance”, is widely used to indicate a core competency professionals require during work in forensic psychiatric settings. However, a clear definition and understanding of the construct is lacking, which hinders theory building, measurement, research and training. The current study aimed to capture this concept and provide a first definition. Thirty statements about possible aspects of forensic vigilance were formulated. Participants (N = 700) were forensic psychiatric professionals. By means of an online survey, participants had to indicate how much they endorsed each statement by means of a 100 mm Visual Analog Scale (VAS) ranging from “totally disagree” at 0 mm to “totally agree” at 100 mm. The most endorsed statements included “Forensic vigilance is being able to recognize even subtle signs of impending danger/possible escalation” and “Forensic vigilance is daring to be assertive”. Fifteen statements were endorsed with a mean of 70 mm or more. Cronbach’s α of these 15 items was good (α =.844; αrange .828 –.845). The professionals regarded forensic vigilance as highly important (µ = 89.01 mm out of 100) for their work. Further research will include testing a newly constructed 15-item instrument for measuring forensic vigilance, and explore its relationship with personal and professional characteristics.