See, Think, ActScale: preliminary development and validation of a measure of relational security in medium- and low-secure units

All staff working in forensic medium-secure environments in the UK are currently encouraged to acquaint themselves with the See, Think, Act (STA) campaign. This is an attempt to improve the quality of relational security, which is increasingly seen as a crucial factor in the maintenance of a safe and therapeutic environment in forensic secure units. The concept of relational security has proved difficult to define and measure, making it difficult to assess the success of STA or any other initiative aimed at improving relational security. Team discussion questions in the STA materials were used to develop a questionnaire to measure relational security, which was completed by 159 nursing staff. A principal components analysis revealed four related factors with sound internal consistency. Good convergent validity was found with two subscales of the Essen Climate Evaluation Scale. These preliminary results indicate that relational security can be reliably measured and is related to other meaningful variables.