ABSTRACT
We would like to start by stating that when this study was first conducted, violence was not identified as an issue requiring investigation in the context of forensic psychiatry. The objectives of the study were to examine role tensions and professional relationships in a newly established Australian forensic hospital 1 . Nurses were formally identified as the leading professional group to run the units of this facility and this entailed the consolidation of some aspects of their professional practice with the concomitant redefinition or disappearance of others. Furthermore, we were not familiar with the work of Latour and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). In other words, ANT did not constitute a theoretical underpinning that allowed us to frame our study. Rather, the decision to explore ANT for the purpose of this research was made post facto in light of the complexity in which nurse participants found themselves in their day to day practice.
