Background: Admitting psychiatric patients against their will is a criticized form of care. Decisions stating that a patient needs to be hospitalized under coercion are based on their incapability to voluntarily participate in their care. Former patients reported that coercive care led to lower satisfaction with their care. Although most former patients experienced negative care, there where patients that understood their care. Previous studies stated a need to examine how patients experienced being under coercive care and subjected to coercive measures such as seclusion, mechanical restraint and forced medication. Aim: This study aimed to illuminate adult psychiatric inpatients experiences of coercive care. Method: A literature-based study based on analysis of ten qualitative scientific studies. Results: 3 themes with 10 subthemes emerged from the analysis; interpersonal relationships, lack of influence while under coercive care and good coercion. The results showed that negative experiences of coercion were often linked to the actions of the mental health care staff. The relationship to the staff could contribute to their experiences being negative or positive. Patients also stated that they felt powerless and experienced loss of autonomy during coercive care. Good coercion was experienced when they felt seen and taken seriously. Conclusion: Patients expressed both negative and positive experiences of coercion. Patients wished for better adjusted information and opportunities to participate. They also expressed the need for trusting and supportive relationships to the mental health care staff. This could lead to greater understanding for their coercive care. / I dagens samhälle rapporteras en ökning av psykisk ohälsa. Samtidigt är den psykiatriska tvångsvården under tung belastning och hög beläggning. Tvångsvård kritiseras dessutom för låg bemanning och bristande kompetens. Detta anses påverka patienters förmåga att praktisera sina rättigheter och medverka i sin vård. Det påverkar i sin tur vårdkvaliteten. Patienter kräver idag ökad delaktighet och information vid tvångsvård. Målet med tvångsvård är att förmå patienten att frivilligt medverka till vård. Tvångsvård blir inte aktuellt om patienten inte har ett nödvändigt behov av psykiatrisk vård. Vid vård under tvång är det möjligt att genomföra specifika åtgärder. Det kan röra sig om fastspänning, avskiljning eller tvångsmedicinering. Tillämpning av sådana åtgärder kräver god motivering och ska inte utsätta patienten för onödigt övergrepp. Makt och etik är förekommande begrepp som bör reflekteras över vid tvångsvård. Patienter under tvångsvård upplever maktlöshet och bristande kontroll. Dessutom förekommer oförståelse för varför tvångsvård tillämpas. Otillräcklig information och bristande delaktighet anses bidra till oförståelsen. Därtill påverkar relationen till vårdpersonalen patienters erfarenheter av tvångsvård. Relationer baserade på tillit och stöd bidrar till ökad förståelse. Goda relationer kan dessutom leda till att åtgärder som tvångsmedicinering och fastspänning kan undvikas. De relationer där patienten inte känner sig sedd eller lyssnad på bidrar till negativa erfarenheter av tvångsvård. Patienter som inte får göra sina röster hörda upplever ofta att åtgärder under tvång vart onödiga, allt som egentligen hade behövts var stöd och samtal. God tvångsvård grundar sig i förståelse för varför vård under tvång var nödvändigt. Det beskrivs som ett nödvändigt ont. Acceptans kan återfinnas i att vården är för deras eget bästa. Tvångsvård blir då ett tillfälligt anstånd i patienters ansvar för sig själva och lättnad återfinns i att någon annan tar över. Därtill kan tvångsvård upplevas som en insats vilken räddat patienter från att skada sig själva eller andra. Resultatet i föreliggande litteraturbaserade studie kan användas av sjuksköterskor för att skapa förståelse för patienters önskemål och erfarenheter. Genom att skapa förståelse kan sjuksköterskan arbeta för en förbättring inom psykiatrisk tvångsvård.

The purpose of this study was to examine how students perceive the most common methods of recruitment for research participation, and whether these recruitment strategies are perceived by the participants to be coercive. Ethical research guidelines prohibit the use of coercion in recruiting participants. Previous studies in this area have either focused on the perceptions of the researchers, or have approached the concept of coercion in a limited way. This study treated coercion as a multidimensional construct and examined student perceptions. Additionally, participant responses indicated which recruitment practices resulted in a decision to participate in the research. Findings indicate that some of the most common research recruitment methods are perceived by students to be coercive.

Sexual coercion in romantic relationships is a facet of criminal behaviour requiring psychological investigation. The cuckoldry risk hypothesis, that sexual coercion is a tactic used by some males to reduce the risk of cuckoldry by engaging in sperm competition, was developed to account for such behaviour. From this hypothesis, four predictions were generated and empirically tested: (1) males should be more willing to use sexually coercive tactics when the risk of cuckoldry is high; (2) greater instances of cuckoldry risk in the past should be related to greater instances of sexual aggression; (3) cuckoldry risk and sexual jealousy should positively correlate in men; and (4) among males, rape attitudes and arousal are highest when the risk of cuckoldry is high. Theoretical considerations also suggested the following exploratory questions: (1) are factors currently known to be related to general sexual coercion also related to measures of coercion in romantic relationships; and (2) can the cuckoldry risk measures still predict coercion after controlling for psychopathy? In order to test these predictions, a sample of 82 male and 82 female undergraduate students who were sexually active in a heterosexual relationship completed a survey that collected information on demographics, relationship characteristics, arousal, antisociality, and attitudes. Results found: (1) a significant interaction between cuckoldry risk variables in predicting coercion among male participants and not among females; (2) no relationship between past instances of cuckoldry risk and instances of sexual aggression; (3) those who spend proportionally less time away from their partner were more likely to score higher on sexual jealousy; (4) significant interactions in the anticipated direction were found when predicting scores on the Rape Empathy Scale and Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, a trend in the anticipated direction was found when predicting Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, and nonsignificant results were found when predicting Attraction to Sexual Aggression. Results addressing the exploratory questions found that: (1) only psychopathy significantly predicted partner sexual coercion; and (2) cuckoldry risk variables predicted sexual coercion after controlling for psychopathy. Discussion of these results cover: the importance of finding a sex difference; understanding the interaction between variables; how cuckoldry risk impacts rape-supportive thoughts, attitudes, and arousal; the role of sexual jealousy; the function of a cuckoldry risk psychological mechanism; and lastly, the implications on dynamic risk prediction.

This study investigates the nature of semantic compatibility between constructions and lexical items that occur in them in relation with language use, and the related concept, coercion, based on a usage-based approach to language, in which linguistic knowledge (grammar) is grounded in language use. This study shows that semantic compatibility between linguistic elements is a gradient phenomenon, and that speakers’ knowledge about the degree of semantic compatibility is intimately correlated with language use. To show this, I investigate two constructions of English: the sentential complement construction and the ditransitive construction. I observe speakers’ knowledge of the semantic compatibility between the constructions and lexical items and compared it with empirical data obtained from linguistic corpora and experiments on sentence processing and acceptability judgments. My findings specifically show that the relative semantic compatibility of the lexical items and the construction is significantly correlated with the frequency of use of their co-occurrences and the processing effort and speakers’ acceptability judgments for the co-occurrences. The empirical data show that a lexical item and a construction which are less than fully compatible can be actually used together when the incompatibility is resolved. The resolution of the semantic incompatibility between the lexical item and its host construction has been called coercion. Coercion has been invoked as a theoretical concept without being examined in depth, particularly without regard to language use. By correlating degree of semantic compatibility with empirical data of language use, this study highlights that coercion is an actual psychological process which occurs during the composition of linguistic elements. Moreover, by examining in detail how the semantics of a lexical item and a construction interact in order to reconcile the incompatibility, this study reveals that coercion is semantic integration that involves not only dynamic interaction of linguistic components but also non-linguistic contexts. Investigating semantic compatibility and coercion in detail with empirical data tells about the processes by which speakers compose linguistic elements into larger units. It also supports the assumption of the usage-based model that grammar and usage are not independent, and ultimately sheds light on the dynamic aspect of our linguistic system.

This study investigates the nature of semantic compatibility between constructions and lexical items that occur in them in relation with language use, and the related concept, coercion, based on a usage-based approach to language, in which linguistic knowledge (grammar) is grounded in language use. This study shows that semantic compatibility between linguistic elements is a gradient phenomenon, and that speakers’ knowledge about the degree of semantic compatibility is intimately correlated with language use. To show this, I investigate two constructions of English: the sentential complement construction and the ditransitive construction. I observe speakers’ knowledge of the semantic compatibility between the constructions and lexical items and compared it with empirical data obtained from linguistic corpora and experiments on sentence processing and acceptability judgments. My findings specifically show that the relative semantic compatibility of the lexical items and the construction is significantly correlated with the frequency of use of their co-occurrences and the processing effort and speakers’ acceptability judgments for the co-occurrences. The empirical data show that a lexical item and a construction which are less than fully compatible can be actually used together when the incompatibility is resolved. The resolution of the semantic incompatibility between the lexical item and its host construction has been called coercion. Coercion has been invoked as a theoretical concept without being examined in depth, particularly without regard to language use. By correlating degree of semantic compatibility with empirical data of language use, this study highlights that coercion is an actual psychological process which occurs during the composition of linguistic elements. Moreover, by examining in detail how the semantics of a lexical item and a construction interact in order to reconcile the incompatibility, this study reveals that coercion is semantic integration that involves not only dynamic interaction of linguistic components but also non-linguistic contexts. Investigating semantic compatibility and coercion in detail with empirical data tells about the processes by which speakers compose linguistic elements into larger units. It also supports the assumption of the usage-based model that grammar and usage are not independent, and ultimately sheds light on the dynamic aspect of our linguistic system.

Sexual coercion in romantic relationships is a facet of criminal behaviour requiring psychological investigation. The cuckoldry risk hypothesis, that sexual coercion is a tactic used by some males to reduce the risk of cuckoldry by engaging in sperm competition, was developed to account for such behaviour. From this hypothesis, four predictions were generated and empirically tested: (1) males should be more willing to use sexually coercive tactics when the risk of cuckoldry is high; (2) greater instances of cuckoldry risk in the past should be related to greater instances of sexual aggression; (3) cuckoldry risk and sexual jealousy should positively correlate in men; and (4) among males, rape attitudes and arousal are highest when the risk of cuckoldry is high. Theoretical considerations also suggested the following exploratory questions: (1) are factors currently known to be related to general sexual coercion also related to measures of coercion in romantic relationships; and (2) can the cuckoldry risk measures still predict coercion after controlling for psychopathy? In order to test these predictions, a sample of 82 male and 82 female undergraduate students who were sexually active in a heterosexual relationship completed a survey that collected information on demographics, relationship characteristics, arousal, antisociality, and attitudes. Results found: (1) a significant interaction between cuckoldry risk variables in predicting coercion among male participants and not among females; (2) no relationship between past instances of cuckoldry risk and instances of sexual aggression; (3) those who spend proportionally less time away from their partner were more likely to score higher on sexual jealousy; (4) significant interactions in the anticipated direction were found when predicting scores on the Rape Empathy Scale and Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, a trend in the anticipated direction was found when predicting Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, and nonsignificant results were found when predicting Attraction to Sexual Aggression. Results addressing the exploratory questions found that: (1) only psychopathy significantly predicted partner sexual coercion; and (2) cuckoldry risk variables predicted sexual coercion after controlling for psychopathy. Discussion of these results cover: the importance of finding a sex difference; understanding the interaction between variables; how cuckoldry risk impacts rape-supportive thoughts, attitudes, and arousal; the role of sexual jealousy; the function of a cuckoldry risk psychological mechanism; and lastly, the implications on dynamic risk prediction.

Rhetoricians have long praised argumentation as a productive alternative to violence, and while I agree that it can be such an alternative, my dissertation aims to complicate our understanding of both violence and coercion by illumination how the strictures of civility limit the rhetoric of dissent. This study makes two main arguments, 1), that the dominant narrative of the civil rights and Black Power movements has been insufficiently challenged by rhetoricians, and 2), that this lack can be explained in part by these scholars’ preference for civility and decorum over coercion in persuasion. I argue that both the civil rights and Black Power movements share similarities both tactically and philosophically. Looking beyond assessing these movements in terms of their alleged levels of civility allows us more fully to account for the complexity of their rhetorical situations. I use black women’s autobiographies as my focus because they allow a glimpse into the quotidian nature of the civil rights and Black Power movement’s struggles, one that lies on the margin of the media spotlight on movement leadership. In addition, these autobiographies unveil the multiple audiences activist rhetors faced in ways that major speeches, penned and delivered by men, cannot. / text

There have been few investigations of sexual coercion in relationships. I conducted several studies to develop a measure of partner sexual coercion and to identify its proximate causes and the relevant personal characteristics of male perpetrators. Community participants’ self-reported propensity to engage in various tactics to obtain sex from a reluctant partner clustered into a subscale relating to sexual coercion and a subscale pertaining to sexual coaxing. These subscales had excellent internal reliability, construct validity, criterion validity, and were used to test predictions in subsequent studies. I tested the application of Lalumière et al.’s (2005) three-path model for the development of sexually coercive behavior in general to sexual coercion in relationships. Self-reported interest in partner sexual coercion in a community sample was significantly related to psychopathy, but not age or neurodeveopmental insults. I confirmed the importance of psychopathy in this model by comparing men who raped their partner to other sex offender groups. Another characteristic of sex offenders, sexual deviance, was tested for its application to partner rapists. Unlike non-partner rapists, men who raped their partner exhibited low sexual arousal to rape scenarios, similar to community controls. Cuckoldry risk, a hypothesized proximate cause of partner sexual coercion, was also tested. Direct cues to cuckoldry risk were related to self-reported propensity for partner sexual coercion, whereas indirect cues of cuckoldry risk were related to sexual coaxing. In a forensic sample, most partner rapists had experienced cuckoldry risk prior to committing their offense, and they experienced more cuckoldry risk events than partner assaulters. A necessary condition of the cuckoldry risk hypothesis is that men should exhibit sexual arousal to cues signaling cuckoldry risk. Men in a community sample exhibited as much sexual arousal to stories depicting partner infidelity as they did to stories depicting consenting sex with their partners, and men who were currently in relationships showed greater arousal to stories of infidelity than consenting sex. Taken together, my results suggest psychopathy and cuckoldry risk are important contributors to partner sexual coercion. / Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2008-07-16 11:13:04.26

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1998. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted.

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1998. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted.