Elsevier

Collegian

Volume 8, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 19-25
Collegian

The use of seclusion in the year 2000: What Has Changed?

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1322-7696(08)60018-9Get rights and content

This study was undertaken to examine the perceptions of nurses working in three psychiatric settings regarding the effect and use of seclusion. It also aimed to identify current practices at these sites in the metropolitan area of Western Australia. A total of 78 nurses specialising in mental health care participated in the study by completing the ‘Attitude towards seclusion survey’. The findings of this study indicate that nurses perceive seclusion as an accepted patient management strategy. The results also showed that the decision to seclude the patient was made by a senior mental health practitioner and that one hour was the average time a patient spent in seclusion. It is important to ensure that punishment, paternalistic attitudes or punitive actions are not part of clinical judgment regarding the use of seclusion. The study has provided evidence of nurses' perceptions concerning seclusion and the results highlight the need for staff to continue to explore and evaluate issues that lead to seclusion in order to facilitate the use of other management strategies that encourage a less restrictive environment.

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Cited by (26)

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    2018, Archives of Psychiatric Nursing
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    Focus group participants suggested that new staff nurses should attend some form of reflection as part of their development although this finding would also suggest their attendance is critical in order to shape their thinking which, in turn, should influence practise. Wynaden et al. (2001) described nurses as having a moral responsibility to explore their own feelings about seclusion and of its legal and ethical consequences while Van Der Merwe, Muir-Cochrane, Jones, Tziggili, and Bowers (2013) cited the danger in seclusion use becoming habituated towards and that reflection and team debriefings play a vital role in addressing this. Boumans, Egger, Souren, Mann-Poll, and Hutschemaekers (2012) found that team reflexivity was related to the tendency to prevent seclusion and Mann-Poll, Smit, Koekkoek, and Hutschemaekers (2015) recommend that supervision and debrief sessions are facilitated as a matter of routine.

  • Impacts of Seclusion and the Seclusion Room: Exploring the Perceptions of Mental Health Nurses in Australia

    2011, Archives of Psychiatric Nursing
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    Seclusion is therefore not being endorsed as a therapeutic intervention as has been concluded from other research (Lee et al., 2003; Meehan et al., 2004; Wynaden et al., 2001); however, the therapeutic potential of seclusion has not been dismissed, which suggests that participants remain ambivalent despite their clear acknowledgement of negative reactions. When considering the impact of the seclusion room itself on patients, the participants' responses reflected the negative impacts observed from other research (Bonner et al., 2002; Holmes et al., 2004; Meehan et al., 2004, 2000; Wynaden et al., 2001). Despite this, 97.6% of participants believe that the seclusion room sometimes or always has a calming impact.

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