Restraint (in regard to dementia)

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Chapter 10: Restraint

Overview:

• Provides some examples of restraint and the reasons for it
• Describes the people who are usually restrained
• Evaluates the adverse effects of restraint
• Includes relevant case studies
• Provides guidelines for assessing the need for constraint and encourages the consideration of other options
• Includes a simulated risk assessment form

Description:

The use of restraint is a contentious and emotive issue. Some argue that restraint should never be used, whereas others suggest that, in certain circumstances, it might be the only means of keeping a person safe. The premise of this chapter is that the effects of restraint should largely be seen as adverse. This chapter addresses what is meant by restraint, why it is used, and who are the people who tend to be restrained.

Topics:

• Types of restraint
• Reasons for restraint
• People who are restrained
• Adverse effects of restraint
• Risk assessment and restraint
• Policy guidelines
  • Assessing the need for restraint
• Considering other options

Speaker / Author:

Dr Carole Archibald
Carole has had a wide range of nursing experience in general hospitals including gynaecology, theatre, care of the elderly, and orthopaedics. Carole has worked in the field of dementia since the late 1980s, and is a senior fieldworker at the Dementia Services Development Centre at Stirling University (Scotland) where she is involved in consultancy, training and research. Her consultancy work has included work in the acute sector facilitating multidisciplinary focus groups and interviewing key members of staff in acute hospitals in Edinburgh (Scotland). Carole has also interviewed family carers and has held day workshops for staff on issues affecting people with dementia in acute settings.

Carole’s other areas of interest include activities and respite care for people with dementia, specialist dementia units, and sexuality in people with dementia. She has published widely in many of these subject areas.

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