Women in psychiatric and forensic units face distinct gender-based violence and coercion experiences
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Key Takeaway
Recognize that women in psychiatric and forensic units experience distinct gender-based violence and coercion requiring tailored care.
This integrative review synthesizes findings from 54 articles examining the experiences of women in psychiatric and forensic units. The review identifies that these women face gender-based violence and coercion that are distinct from those in general psychiatric settings. Additionally, the legal context and longer hospitalizations in forensic units introduce specific challenges not addressed in standard care.
The authors note that current clinical practices and training do not consider the specific needs of women in these settings, suggesting a gap in care. The review is qualitative in nature, and no pooled effect sizes or quantitative outcomes are reported.
Limitations of the review are not explicitly stated in the input, but as an integrative review, it may be subject to selection bias and heterogeneity across included studies. The findings underscore the need for gender-sensitive approaches in psychiatric and forensic care, though further research is needed to inform specific interventions.
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IntroductionMany studies report that women’s access to safe and equitable care remains limited due to interpersonal and systemic barriers. In mental health care contexts, including psychiatric hospitalization, these inequities are reinforced by the gendered stigmatization of mental health disorders, which influences both diagnosis and clinical interventions.ObjectiveThe aim of this integrative review is to explore women’s experiences in psychiatric and forensic units. The research questions are: (1) What are the gender-based violence experiences reported by women during psychiatric hospitalization? and (2) What current or potential individual, interpersonal, and systemic initiatives exist to prevent or address gender-based violence?MethodsAn integrative literature review was conducted employing an intersectional approach and lived experience knowledge. Searches across six databases, supplemented by manual searches in the grey literature and reference lists, yielded 54 articles. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data.ResultsThe identified themes are: (1) when men are the norm: the making of women’s subordination, (2) the cycle of harm: trauma, systems, and retraumatization, (3) institutional disregard of women’s bodies: reproductive care and maternal role, (4) layered harms: when intersecting identities meet institutional violence and (5) paths forward: initiatives to counter institutional gender violence. The results indicate the existence of hospitalization experiences specific to women that include gender-specific violence and coercion, with experiences in forensic psychiatry care displaying additional specificities related to the legal context and length of the hospitalization.ConclusionThe results suggest that gendered power dynamics are transferred to the context of psychiatric and forensic hospitalization. Current clinical practices and training do not consider the specific needs of women in these settings. This review underscores the importance of recognizing and addressing the specific needs of women during psychiatric hospitalizations.
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