Background A major challenge in psychiatric inpatient care is to create an environment that promotes patient recovery, patient safety and good working environment for staff. Since guidelines and programs addressing this issue stress the importance of primary prevention in creating safe environments, more insight is needed regarding patient perceptions of feeling safe. The aim of this study is to enhance our understanding of feelings of being safe or unsafe in psychiatric inpatient care. Methods In this qualitative study, interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with 17 adult patients, five women and 12 men, from four settings: one general psychiatric, one psychiatric addiction and two forensic psychiatric clinics. The main question in the interview guide concerned patients’ feelings of being safe or unsafe. Thematic content analysis with an inductive approach was used to generate codes and, thereafter, themes and subthemes. Results The main results can be summarized in three themes: (1) Predictable and supportive services are necessary for feeling safe. This concerns the ability of psychiatric and social services to meet the needs of patients. Descriptions of delayed care and unpredictable processes were common. The structured environment was mostly perceived as positive. (2) Communication and taking responsibility enhance safety. This is about daily life in the ward, which was often perceived as being socially poor and boring with non-communicative staff. Participants emphasized that patients have to take responsibility for their actions and for co-patients. (3) Powerlessness and unpleasant encounters undermine safety. This addresses the participants’ way of doing risk analyses and handling unpleasant or aggressive patients or staff members. The usual way to act in risk situations was to keep away. Conclusions Our results indicate that creating reliable treatment and care processes, a stimulating social climate in wards, and better staff-patient communication could enhance patient perceptions of feeling safe. It seems to be important that staff provide patients with general information about the safety situation at the ward, without violating individual patients right to confidentiality, and to have an ongoing process that aims to create organizational values promoting safe environments for patients and staff. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13033-019-0282-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The aim was to describe the nursing staff and ward managers' experiences of safety and violence in everyday meetings with the patients. The qualitative content analyses resulted in four themes: the relationship with the patient is the basis of care; the organizational culture affects the care given; knowledge and competence are important for safe care; and the importance of balancing influence and coercion in care. The staff had a varied ability to meet patients in a respectful way. One way of creating a common approach could be to discuss and reflect upon different options in the meeting with the patient.

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The aim of this study was to investigate inflammatory perturbations in 40 patients with severe and complex psychiatric disorders by studying the activity of the NLRP3 inflammasome, with a trans-diagnostic approach. Gene expression of CASP1, NLRP3, PYCARD, IL1B, IL1RN, TNF showed a significant increase in the patient group compared to a matched control group. Plasma levels of IL1Ra, IL-18, TNF, IL-6 and CRP were increased in the patient group. Within the patient group, increased gene expression of inflammatory markers correlated with increased disease severity. The findings support the inflammation hypothesis for markedly ill psychiatric patients across diagnostic groups.

ObjectivesThe objective of the study was to investigate how mental health professionals describe and reflect upon different forms of informal coercion.ResultsIn a deductive qualitative content analysis of focus group interviews, several examples of persuasion, interpersonal leverage, inducements, and threats were found. Persuasion was sometimes described as being more like a negotiation. Some participants worried about that the use of interpersonal leverage and inducements risked to pass into blackmail in some situations. In a following inductive analysis, three more categories of informal coercion was found: cheating, using a disciplinary style and referring to rules and routines. Participants also described situations of coercion from other stakeholders: relatives and other authorities than psychiatry. The results indicate that informal coercion includes forms that are not obviously arranged in a hierarchy, and that its use is complex with a variety of pathways between different forms before treatment is accepted by the patient or compulsion is imposed.