"DET ÖMSINTA ANSANDET" SJUKSKÖTERSKORS UPPLEVELSE AV VAD SOM ÄR VÅRDANDE INOM RÄTTSPSYKIATRIN
Forensic psychiatric care is a complex business. Patients who are cared for in forensic psychiatry are usually in need of care for a long time. The forensic care is a major intrusion into a person's life and the nurses and caregivers are the people who spend the most time with patients. They have a difficult mission providing a good and personalized care while patients are deprived of their liberty. Previous research demonstrates that patients experience forensic care as uncertain, insecure and punitive but that there are also glimpses of "good care". Caring is described as unreflective and that nurses are left for themselves to use their "common sense". This study's aim is to highlight nurses' experiences of what is caring in forensic nursing. The study has a qualitative design and a theoretical framework that is based on caring idea and ethos according to the description of Eriksson (2002). A total of six nurses at a forensic care clinic were interviewed. The interviews were then analyzed through a phenomenological hermeneutic method. Caring in forensic psychiatry was perceived to be associated with both closeness and distance, as well as to create balance. The comprehensive understanding of nurses' experiences showed that that caring is a balancing act between getting close to the patient while creating a functioning structure in the care which is interpreted as a "tender purging".