Dr Pius Omolewa

The Impact of Instructive Educational Program on Physical Restraint Reduction Dr Pius Omolewa

Publisher Marketing: The use of physical restraints in acute mental health hospitals has become a norm among nurses to control the aggressions of mentally ill patients despite many injuries and deaths reported consequential to physical restraints applications. Grounded in Bandura's theory of social learning, the purpose of this experimental study was to determine the impact of a nurse instructive educational program on physical restraints reduction. The research questions aimed to determine whether changes occurred in nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and practice of physical restraints as a result of the intervention. The 128 participants were equally assigned to intervention and control groups. The Knowledge of Physical Restraint Use, Attitudes of Physical Restraint Use, and Practice of Physical Restraint Use scales were administered to respectively assess nurses' post-intervention knowledge, attitudes, and practice of physical restraints. One-way analysis of variance was employed to document statistically significant differences between the intervention and control groups for all 3 measures, and in each case the direction of these observed differences verified the effectiveness of the instructional intervention. This study contributes to the literature by supporting the importance of instructive education for nurses to reduce physical restraints usage in acute mental health hospitals. The implications for positive social change include better nurse-patient relationships, increased quality of care, and reduction of litigations and financial losses on the part of hospitals and patients' families.