Drama education as part of a good lives model treatment approach

Drama education as part of a good lives model treatment approach Nienke Verstegen, Wineke Smid, Jolijn van der Schoot The Journal of Forensic Practice, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.- Forensic psychiatric treatment is aimed at reducing violence risk factors (Bonta and Andrews, 2017) and achieving positive, prosocial life goals (Willis et al., 2013). Drama education can be provided as part of this treatment, but the evidence base is scarce. Therefore, the present study aims to provide insight into experiences with drama education as part of forensic psychiatric treatment. A qualitative study was conducted, based on participant observation and 16 interviews, to explore the experiences of patients and treatment providers with drama education during forensic psychiatric treatment. Analyses were conducted following the consensual qualitative research method (Hill et al., 1997). The five central themes that emerged from the analysis were knowledge, happiness, excellence in play, community and staff-patient hierarchy. Participants reported that they enjoyed the drama lessons, appreciated the group atmosphere and were able to practice their social-emotional skills. Furthermore, patients and their treatment providers became better acquainted with each other because the power differences between patients and staff decreased during the drama lessons. Drama education can be considered a useful part of clinical forensic psychiatric ...
Source: Journal of Forensic Practice - Category: Forensic Medicine Authors: Source Type: research