Scratching Beneath the Surface: Influencing Factors on Nurses’ Attitudes Toward the Use of Seclusion

Abstract

Reducing the use of seclusion is now widely identified as a quality issue for mental health services and reflects recognition of the detrimental impact of seclusion on consumers of services. Despite this, the research evidence suggests that nurses continue to support the use of seclusion in order to maintain a safe environment. The aim of this study was to consider how factors such as Therapeutic Optimism, Job Satisfaction, and Burnout might relate to nurses' attitudes toward seclusion. The Heyman Attitudes to Seclusion Survey, Elsom Therapeutic Optimism Scale, Maslach's Burnout Inventory, and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaires were completed by 123 nurses employed in one of eight participating mental health services. Data analysis included Spearman's rho and independent-samples t-tests statistics. The findings suggested several significant relationships between attitudes toward seclusion and therapeutic optimism, job satisfaction, and burnout. Participants with higher optimism scores, high intrinsic motivation, low emotional exhaustion, and high personal accomplishment were more likely to respond negatively to the use of seclusion. This research enhances our understanding of attitudes toward seclusion and may assist in the development of interventions to influence more positive attitudes.

Psychiatric nursing staffs’ attitudes towards the use of containment methods in psychiatric inpatient care: An integrative review

“…According to the staff members, seclusion and restraint were most commonly used to control violence and self‐harm (Gelkopf et al . ; Happell & Koehn ; Wynn ), as well as patient behaviour (Happell et al . (), Lemonidou et al .…”

“…). Nurses with high personal accomplishment (Happell & Koehn ), high optimism scores, and low burnout scores were less likely to support the use of seclusion (Happell & Koehn ,c).…”

“…; Özcan et al . ), with the main reasons for their use being violence, self‐harm, and behavioural control of the patients (Happell & Koehn ; Gelkopf et al . ; Wynn ; Happell et al.…”

“…The studies included in this review concerned attitudes towards several different containment methods, but seclusion and restraint were the most commonly examined interventions. According to the results, nurses identified restraint, seclusion, and PRN medication as the most commonly used measures (Lemonidou et al 2002;€ Ozcan et al 2015), with the main reasons for their use being violence, self-harm, and behavioural control of the patients (Happell & Koehn 2011b;Gelkopf et al 2009;Wynn 2003;Happell et al 2012;Lemonidou et al 2002). Seclusion was also considered to be linked to departmental culture (Van Doeselaar et al 2008).…”

“…The studies reported that the most commonly used containment methods were body restrictions (such as mechanical restraint), seclusion (Lemonidou et al 2002), and PRN medication ( € Ozcan et al 2015). According to the staff members, seclusion and restraint were most commonly used to control violence and self-harm (Gelkopf et al 2009;Happell & Koehn 2011b;Wynn 2003), as well as patient behaviour (Happell et al (2012), Lemonidou et al 2002, and for patient safety and staff convenience (Lemonidou et al 2002). In addition, seclusion and restraint were used to assure legal protection (Mahmoud 2017), maintain the treatment regimen, and minimize disturbances to other patients and due to nurses' accountability in caring for patients (Chien & Lee 2007).…”