Forensic psychiatry is a sector of mental health that manages the assessment, treatment, containment and community management of mentally disordered offenders (Couldrick, 2003). Forensic services primarily aim to reintegrate patients back into the community accompanied by a risk and treatment plan (Cronin-Davis, Lang, & Molineux, 2004). Offenders receiving psychiatric treatment in the criminal justice system are frequently referred to as forensic patients, which is a term that is used throughout this critical analysis (O’Connell & Farnworth, 2007).
The defining role of an occupational therapist is to engage …show more content…
2004). As the number of incarcerated persons with serious psychiatric disabilities continues to increase, concepts such as occupational deprivation and occupational imbalance provide useful conceptual frameworks to understand the negative impact incarceration has on the performance patterns of habits, routines and roles required for community living. I believe that such concepts dictate the need for occupational therapists to be involved and frame interventions aimed at maintaining and developing daily living skills and roles that will support community reintegration post release. Yet in reality, there still lacks concrete belief that occupational therapy is not only useful but also vital to forensic …show more content…
| Occupational performance issues | Occupational imbalance, Occupational deprivation, social exclusion |
1.4 Inclusion/Exclusion
The exclusion for this search strategy was based on publication dates of journal articles, however there was an exception if the journal article was strongly relevant to the search question. Within the 23 identified journal articles relevant to this research topic only one was published 15 years ago or more. Within the 23 identified journal articles 16 were published within the last 10