Staff experiences and understandings of the REsTRAIN Yourself initiative to minimise the use of physical restraint on mental health wards (4 January 2019)

Summary

This study in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing presents a qualitative evaluation of staff perspectives of the impact and value of the REsTRAIN Yourself initiative. REsTRAIN Yourself aimed to reduce the use of physical restraint in mental health inpatient wards through training and practice development with whole teams within ward settings. Thirty-six staff participated in semi-structured interviews for this study.

Content

The evaluation found that:

• staff reported more positively on their relationships with service users.
• staff felt their attitudes towards the use of coercive practices such as restraint were changed.
• the service as a whole shifted in terms of restraint awareness and reduction.
• new policies, procedures and language were introduced despite barriers.