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Police and sniffer dogs in psychiatric settings
Khalifa, Najat Gibbon, Simon D. Duggan, Conor
Khalifa, Najat
Gibbon, Simon D.
Duggan, Conor
Abstract
Aims and method: To study the views of staff and patients on the use of sniffer dogs to detect illicit drugs and the prosecution of in-patients suspected of taking illicit drugs. A 15-item self-report questionnaire was given to all in-patients and staff who had any contact with patients in a medium-secure unit. Responses to the individual statements were measured on a five-point Likert scale and staff and patients' responses were compared. Results: We achieved a response rate of 63% (patient response rate, 71.6%; staff response rate, 60.7%). Overall there were fewer differences than anticipated, although, as expected, staff viewed the impact of illicit drugs more negatively than patients, and on the other hand, patients viewed the use of sniffer dogs and police involvement more negatively than the staff did. Clinical implications: Notice ought to be taken of the discordance between staff and patients' views (particularly in relation to consent and confidentiality) when attempting to detect and manage illicit drug use among psychiatric in-patients.
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Date
2008
Type
Article
Subject
Informed consent
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Citation
Khalifa, N., Gibbon, S. & Duggan, C. (2008). Police and sniffer dogs in psychiatric settings. Psychiatric Bulletin, 32 (7), pp.253-256.
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Publisher’s statement
This is an author-produced electronic version of an article accepted for publication in the British Journal of Psychiatry. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-bulletin