Determination of psychiatric clinic nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding the use of physical restraints

Özet

Objectives: This study was carried out to determine nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding the use of physical restraint in psychiatric settings. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in seven psychiatric hospitals in Turkey between May and October 2015. The attempt was to reach an entire study population without any sampling; it was completed with 304 nurses (62.8%). Data were collected using the Scale for Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Regarding Physical Restraints and a Questionnaire Form, and then assessed with SPSS software, using descriptive statistics, t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and a Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test. Results: Nurses’ knowledge about the complications of using physical restraint was lacking; most nurses (65.8%) did not use alternative methods instead of physical restraints. It was found that nurses’ knowledge level regarding physical restraint was good, attitudes were negative, and practices were close to excellent. The mean knowledge score of nurses who did not use physical restraints (p=0.031) was statistically higher than others’. The mean attitudes scores of nurses whose age was between 20 and 35 (p=0.044), who were bachelors (p=0.026), and who did not use physical restraints (p=0.034) were statistically higher than others’. The mean practice scores of women (p=0.005) and nurses who had over 10 years’ clinical experiences (p=0.03) were statistically higher than others. Conclusion: Nurses’ knowledge level regarding physical restraint was good, although attitudes were negative, and practices were nearly excellent. The suggestion to hold comprehensive and practical training programs promoting nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding physical restraints for nurses arose from these conclusions.