Percezioni e conoscenze degli infermieri e degli studenti di infermieristica in tema di contenzione fisica: risultati di uno studio

Introduction The Health Care Financing Administration considers as physical and mechanical means of restraint all devices applied to the body or in the space surrounding the person to limit the freedom of voluntary movements. The main reasons for the application of a restraint are the prevention of falls, the management of confusion and agitation, the protection of medical devices. The event, however, is not without consequences: many studies have highlighted physical complications and psychological repercussions, as well as feelings of disappointment and embarrassment, often shared by the family. Moreover, the decision whether or not to resort to physical restraint is not without consequences, essentially of an emotional nature, also for the nursing staff. The objective of this study is to investigate the perception and knowledge of a sample of nurses and nursing students regarding physical restraint. Methods Validation of the Italian version of the questionnaire by Janelli LM et al. (1992); administration of the instrument to a sample of nurses from different health realities and students of the degree course in nursing. Results Internal consistency was 0.81 for the “knowledge” domain, 0.86 for “attitudes” and 0.84 for “Aspects of practice”. The Content Validity Index was 0.96. The “ knowledge” and “ aspects of practice” domains scored critically in 6 items out of 15; the "attitudes" domain showed that the participants (students in particular) had satisfactory motivation towards this topic. Conclusions The Italian version of the tool has proved to be valid and reliable; the results obtained suggest the need for more training for students, continuous updating of nurses and greater awareness of the issue of physical restraint.