Nursing Staff and Unit Characteristics: Do They Affect the Use of Seclusion?

Restrictive forms of therapy are often used in psychiatric settings as a method of dealing with aggression, noncompliance, and other forms of "abnormal behavior." In this study, factors influencing the unit environment and personal attributes of staff members were examined to determine the degree to which they might influence the use of seclusion. Findings suggest that some variations in the use of seclusion could be attributed to unit characteristics.