and reach thousands of daily visitors
28 MAY 2008
NO 1302
Perspectives on restraint
Another purpose of this study was to assess the opinions of various stakeholders on the use of restraint in their program. While many administrators seemed reluctant to advocate for restraints, they recognized the importance of its judicious application. As one administrator explained, "People think you're arguing to do restraints and that you're pro-restraint. I'm not pro-restraint. I'm pro doing what's in the best interest of the child and sometimes it's in the best interest of the child to have to hold them."
Direct care staff are often the individuals most directly involved in restraint. Their views on the need for restraint were similar. "You always make it the last thing that you do, but it's a tool that needs to be there," said one direct staff member.
Perhaps the biggest advocates of the use of physical restraint were the youths that were interviewed. Several youths indicated that they wanted the staff to restrain youths in order to help them be and feel safe. Here are some of the views expressed by youths in these residential programs:
"There are a lot of times someone needs to be
restrained, especially in places like this where there are behavior
kids."
"If there are really huge guys getting into fights and if they didn't
have restraint or some kind of control over those kids, some major stuff
would be going down."
"[Restraint] kind of keeps the balance going through the facility."
Participants were asked to imagine what the program would be like if restraint was no longer permitted at their facility. Across the board, administrators, staff and youths expressed concern about what would result. These first quotes are from program administrators:
"Given the nature of the work we do and the level of
aggression that our kids bring, I don't see us working without that
tool."
"Our goal, I'm sure it's everybody's goal, is to have a restraint-free
campus, but you know, that's kind of pie-in-the sky with some of the
dangerous behaviors you deal with."
"There would be some of those high-end kids that we just wouldn't
accept."
Direct care staff members expressed specific concerns about how their ability to do their job would change if restraint was prohibited. One said, "I would feel unsafe in a facility that had a no-restraint policy." Without restraint, direct care staff would have fewer tools for maintaining youth safely in placement and one staff member feared that more youths would end up in correctional settings.
The youths stressed similar opinions, only in stronger terms. Below are listed some of the youths' reactions to what would happen in their facility if restraints were no longer used.
"Oh God? This place would be in shambles
within an hour. Well, not within an hour, maybe a couple of days."
"It would be wild. There wouldn't be any order; it would be all chaos."
"Ooh? Kids would be fighting. There would be so much fighting. Kids
would be running away. It would be chaos. You would come back to this
dorm, Bam! You wouldn't see anybody. You'd be like, 'Where are all of
the kids at?"'
In addition, youths were asked whether they would prefer to be at a facility that did or did not use restraints. All but one youth stated a preference for being at a facility where restraint was an available tool. The dissenting youth expressed concern about witnessing inappropriate restraints and felt that it would be better to be in a facility where restraint was not used. It should be noted that concerns that youths expressed about restraint were not about whether they should ever be used, but about how and when restraint procedures were applied.
B.R. LEE, J.C. MCMILLEN AND N. FEDORAVICIUS
Lee, B.R.; McMillen, J.C. and Fedoravicius, N. (2007). Use and views of physical restraint in select residential treatment programs. International Journal of Child and Family Welfare, 10, 3-4. pp. 144-145.
