Different forms of informal coercion in psychiatry: a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of the study was to investigate how mental health professionals describe and reflect upon different forms of informal coercion. RESULTS: In a deductive qualitative content analysis of focus group interviews, several examples of persuasion, interpersonal leverage, inducements, and threats were found. Persuasion was sometimes described as being more like a negotiation. Some participants worried about that the use of interpersonal leverage and inducements risked to pass into blackmail in some situations. In a following inductive analysis, three more categories of informal coercion was found: cheating, using a disciplinary style and referring to rules and routines. Participants also described situations of coercion from other stakeholders: relatives and other authorities than psychiatry. The results indicate that informal coercion includes forms that are not obviously arranged in a hierarchy, and that its use is complex with a variety of pathways between different forms before treatment is accepted by the patient or compulsion is imposed

Ethical considerations in psychiatric inpatient care : The ethical landscape in everyday practice as described by staff

This thesis focuses mainly on the general ethical considerations of staff and not pre-defined specific ethical problems or dilemmas. The aims of this thesis were: first, to map ethical considerations as described by staff members in their everyday work in child and adolescent psychiatry as well as in adult psychiatry; second, from a normative ethical perspective, examine encounters between staff and patients; and third, to describe staff justification for decisions on coercive care in child and adolescent psychiatry. The material in the three first studies comprised ethical diaries written by staff in 13 inpatient clinics. The fourth study included all the medical records of patients who were admitted to coercive care during one year in child and adolescent psychiatry in Sweden. In a final analysis, combining all the four studies, three staff ideals were identified: being a good carer, respecting the patient’s autonomy and integrity and having good relations with patients and relatives. Staff often felt that the only reasonable way in many situations was to act in a paternalistic way and take responsibility, but they considered it to be problematic. Four main themes were identified as ethical considerations. These were the borders of coercion, the emphasis on order and clarity rather than a more reciprocal relationship with patients, a strong expectation of loyalty within the team, and feelings of powerlessness, mostly in relation to patients. I have identified four challenges for inpatient psychiatry. First, formal and informal coercion in inpatient care raise ethical concerns that also can be emotionally difficult for staff. Second, the professional role and care needs to be redeveloped from providing routinised care to providing more individualised care. Third, staff often worry about how patients manage their life after discharge, indicating that patients need better support. Fourth, staff also need support; they often experience feelings of being alone with their thoughts about ethical difficulties at work. Future research could contribute in the mapping of ethical considerations, in helping to develop, implement and evaluate methods for managing these issues in psychiatric settings, and to develop the normative ethical language so that it is more relevant to the clinic reality

Hantering av hot och våld : Personalens syn på etik, bemötande och säkerhet i mötet med ungdomar på institutioner

The starting point of this study was that aspects of ethics as well as safety should be taken into account in meetings with patients and clients. The purpose was to increase the understanding of how staff in inpatient and institutional settings relate to the perspectives of good care and safety simultaneously in daily meetings with young clients and patients, especially in aggressive situations. The participants were staff who worked with youngsters on a daily basis at two institutions run by the National Board of Institutional Care (SiS) and a child and adolescent psychiatric clinic. The research questions were: 1) Which values can be found in the staff’s narratives about meetings with youngsters?, 2) How do staff describe the sequence of events in incidents of violence at their workplace?, and 3) How do staff describe their work with prevention and management of violence? Data collection was done through individual interviews, focus group interviews and questionnaires based on the Critical Incident Technique method. Interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Three themes of staff values emerged in the analysis: 1) From rule to relationship, an experienced movement from a rule-based to a more individualized care, 2) Ways to manage power and responsibility, thoughts about structure and pedagogics, and 3) An institution with a conscious culture, the importance of belonging to a supportive team with common basic views and an open climate. The staff described various kinds of incidents of violence and some of these incidents had serious consequences like seclusion of youngsters and staff injuries causing need for medical care. A need for more education, improved routines and organizational support was expressed. The work to prevent violence included individually detecting risks and, if necessary, communicating with other staff members when assessing these risks. Threats were reported as common but hard to cope with when directed towards a specific staff member and his or her family. The staff stressed the need, after a serious incident, to process what happened with colleagues and youngsters concerned. The colleagues were seen as the most important support, and there were some descriptions of shortcomings in the follow-up routines of violent incidents

Hantering av hot och våld : Personalens syn på etik, bemötande och säkerhet i mötet med ungdomar på institutioner

The starting point of this study was that aspects of ethics as well as safety should be taken into account in meetings with patients and clients. The purpose was to increase the understanding of how staff in inpatient and institutional settings relate to the perspectives of good care and safety simultaneously in daily meetings with young clients and patients, especially in aggressive situations. The participants were staff who worked with youngsters on a daily basis at two institutions run by the National Board of Institutional Care (SiS) and a child and adolescent psychiatric clinic. The research questions were: 1) Which values can be found in the staff’s narratives about meetings with youngsters?, 2) How do staff describe the sequence of events in incidents of violence at their workplace?, and 3) How do staff describe their work with prevention and management of violence? Data collection was done through individual interviews, focus group interviews and questionnaires based on the Critical Incident Technique method. Interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Three themes of staff values emerged in the analysis: 1) From rule to relationship, an experienced movement from a rule-based to a more individualized care, 2) Ways to manage power and responsibility, thoughts about structure and pedagogics, and 3) An institution with a conscious culture, the importance of belonging to a supportive team with common basic views and an open climate. The staff described various kinds of incidents of violence and some of these incidents had serious consequences like seclusion of youngsters and staff injuries causing need for medical care. A need for more education, improved routines and organizational support was expressed. The work to prevent violence included individually detecting risks and, if necessary, communicating with other staff members when assessing these risks. Threats were reported as common but hard to cope with when directed towards a specific staff member and his or her family. The staff stressed the need, after a serious incident, to process what happened with colleagues and youngsters concerned. The colleagues were seen as the most important support, and there were some descriptions of shortcomings in the follow-up routines of violent incidents

Barriers and enablers to the implementation of Safewards and the alignment to the i‐PARIHS framework – A qualitative systematic review

Inpatient mental healthcare settings should offer safe environments for patients to heal and recover and for staff to provide high-quality treatment and care. However, aggressive patient behaviour, unengaged staff approaches, and the use of restrictive practices are frequently reported. The Safewards model includes ten interventions that aim to prevent conflict and containment. The model has shown promising results but at the same time often presents challenges to successful implementation strategies. The aim of this study was to review qualitative knowledge on staff experiences of barriers and enablers to the implementation of Safewards, from the perspective of implementation science and the i-PARIHS framework. A search of the Web of Science, ASSIA, Cochrane Library, SCOPUS, Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases resulted in 10 articles. A deductive framework analysis approach was used to identify barriers and enablers and the alignment to the i-PARIHS. Data most represented by the i-PARIHS were related to the following: local-level formal and informal leadership support, innovation degree of fit with existing practice and values, and recipients' values and beliefs. This indicates that if a ward or organization wants to implement Safewards and direct limited resources to only a few implementation determinants, these three may be worth considering. Data representing levels of external health system and organizational contexts were rare. In contrast, data relating to local (ward)-level contexts was highly represented which may reflect Safewards's focus on quality improvement strategies on a local rather than organizational level. © 2023 The Authors. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.Open access funding was provided by the Karolinska Institutet.Safewards Sverig

Feeling safe or unsafe in psychiatric inpatient care, a hospital-based qualitative interview study with inpatients in Sweden

Background: A major challenge in psychiatric inpatient care is to create an environment that promotes patient recovery, patient safety and good working environment for staff. Since guidelines and programs addressing this issue stress the importance of primary prevention in creating safe environments, more insight is needed regarding patient perceptions of feeling safe. The aim of this study is to enhance our understanding of feelings of being safe or unsafe in psychiatric inpatient care. Methods: In this qualitative study, interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with 17 adult patients, five women and 12 men, from four settings: one general psychiatric, one psychiatric addiction and two forensic psychiatric clinics. The main question in the interview guide concerned patients' feelings of being safe or unsafe. Thematic content analysis with an inductive approach was used to generate codes and, thereafter, themes and subthemes. Results: The main results can be summarized in three themes: (1) Predictable and supportive services are necessary for feeling safe. This concerns the ability of psychiatric and social services to meet the needs of patients. Descriptions of delayed care and unpredictable processes were common. The structured environment was mostly perceived as positive. (2) Communication and taking responsibility enhance safety. This is about daily life in the ward, which was often perceived as being socially poor and boring with non-communicative staff. Participants emphasized that patients have to take responsibility for their actions and for co-patients. (3) Powerlessness and unpleasant encounters undermine safety. This addresses the participants' way of doing risk analyses and handling unpleasant or aggressive patients or staff members. The usual way to act in risk situations was to keep away. Conclusions: Our results indicate that creating reliable treatment and care processes, a stimulating social climate in wards, and better staff-patient communication could enhance patient perceptions of feeling safe. It seems to be important that staff provide patients with general information about the safety situation at the ward, without violating individual patients right to confidentiality, and to have an ongoing process that aims to create organizational values promoting safe environments for patients and staff