How to prevent relapse in violent crime related to substance abuse after release from forensic psychiatric care/prison

Substance abuse/addiction is one of the greatest risks for recidivism in violent crime for persons previously sentenced to forensic psychiatric care or prison.

Creating treatments for addiction suited to this clientele, that can be used within prisons and in forensic psychiatric care, is therefore central to preventing new violent crimes. However, the group is difficult to study, published clinical studies often only include a small number of participants.

Persons in this group usually have several combinations of mental problems/addictions and thus have different treatment needs.

This makes it difficult, as the field stands, to determine which addiction care interventions that should be accessible and could work practically in a forensic context.

Creating long-term international research collaborations is an important step towards multi-center studies and overcoming these difficulties.

As a researcher in the interdisciplinary addiction-forensic area, I need to establish and develop international research contacts to jointly develop study designs that are feasible in these countries for future multi-center studies.

A guest researcher stay is an excellent way to create these conditions.During my stay at Boston University (USA) and Università di Perugia (Italy) I shall:Disseminate my research on addiction and its treatment in a Swedish forensic psychiatric context through presentations to research groups at Boston University and Perugia.Together with my contacts, develop the design of a research project that can be used in all three countries, and then start working on this project together.Write an article together with my contacts focusing on important obstacles for persons in a forensic context to seek addiction treatment and also, to benefit from this treatment.As director of our research center CELAM at the University of Gothenburg, mediate new international contacts between researchers in CELAM and the research groups at Boston University and Perugia.