Louanne Lawson,
PhD, RN, FAAN, DF-IAFN, Associate Professor

The nursing care of victims and those accused or convicted of committing crimes is a relatively new area of nursing research, practice, and education. I am particularly focused on preventing child sexual abuse by conducting some of the research needed to identify, evaluate, and treat adults and adolescents who have molested children.

In collaboration with Dr. Joel Milner at Northern Illinois University, I am currently working on an instrument development project, which is in the final stages of evaluating the sensitivity and specificity of the Sexual Child Abuse Potential Inventory and am interested in modifying this screening tool for diagnostic purposes. Planned projects include developing a system for tracking adolescents who have been in treatment for sexual behavior problems and working with the Sex Offender Screening and Risk Assessment team to develop an Arkansas-specific actuarial instrument.

It’s exciting, cutting edge work and, while forensic nursing is not for the faint of heart, I recommend it to anyone who reaches for a challenge.