Attitudes of nursing staff toward restraint use in long-term care

Although legislation has forced discretion in using physical restraints for institutionalized elders, considerable discussion continues about this matter: In particular; decision making around restraint use is not adequately understood. Awareness of the perceptions of nursing staff, who are usually involved in most decisions about restraint use, would be helpful to an understanding of the continued use of restraints. This study examined attitudes held by staff in long-term care settings and explored relationships of education and employment characteristics to physical restraint use. Licensed and unlicensed nursing personnel (N=140) from 4 long-term care facilities were surveyed using a previously developed questionnaire. Results of stepwise regression showed that concerns about resident falls, resident disability, and staff harm explained a large portion of the variation in recommendations regarding restraint use. Other findings suggest there is reason to believe improvements in perceptions about restraint use are occurring. Implications for staff education and areas for change in the work environment are provided.