Mindful yoga as an adjunct treatment for forensic inpatients: a preliminary evaluation Brigitte Sistig a *, Susan Hatters Friedman a , Brian McKenna b and Nathan S. Consedine a a Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland, New Zealand; b NWMH, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia (Received 18 September 2014; accepted 4 June 2015) Although emerging evidence of yoga interventions shows benefits for peo- ple with schizophrenia, research is lacking regarding yoga interventions among forensic inpatients. This pilot study investigated the acceptability and effectiveness of an eight-week mindful yoga programme in improving psychological outcomes in 26 forensic inpatients. Outcome measures included the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Clinical Out- comes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure as well as a qualitative component post-intervention and at two-month follow-up. Trends in the predicted direction suggested reductions in clinical symptoms over time, specifically anxiety. Key themes revealed increased body awareness, relax- ation and self-directed yoga practices and breathing techniques for anxiety management. Ninety-two percent reported acceptance of the programme. Preliminary findings are encouraging and warrant further research into the application of mindful yoga in the management of distress and risk with forensic inpatients. Keywords: forensic psychiatry and psychology; forensic mental health; schizophrenia; psychosis; mindful yoga; programme evaluation Introduction Most forensic mental health patients have a diagnosis of a mental illness, pre- dominantly schizophrenia, personality disorder and often a coexisting substance use disorder (Brinded, Simpson, Laidlaw, Fairley, & Malcolm, 2001). Mental health issues are often compounded in offenders because of multiple factors that contribute to the complexities of managing mental health issues whilst managing risk of re-offending, criminogenic needs or crime-producing factors that are strongly correlated with risk to self or others (Latessa & Lowenkamp, 2005). While antipsychotic agents are a mainstay of treatment for forensic *Corresponding author. Email: bsis002@aucklanduni.ac.nz © 2015 Taylor & Francis The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology , 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2015.1062996 Downloaded by [${individualUser.displayName}] at 20:58 25 July 2015