Restrictive physical intervention with people who have intellectual disabilities: An explorative study of service users' perspectives

Abstract

This thesis is divided into two main sections: Section 1- Literature Review: The literature review critically appraises the literature on the experiences and views of service users with intellectual disabilities and their carers on restrictive physical interventions. Previous reviews which have been conducted on this topic area are discussed and both qualitative and quantitative studies are included in the review. Papers examining the experiences of service users and carers of restrictive physical interventions are reviewed together, followed by papers evaluating the views of service users and carers on specific restrictive physical intervention procedures. The review concludes that restrictive physical interventions are viewed negatively by service users and carers and there are a number of issues and ethical dilemmas raised by their use. Section 2- Research Report: The research report concerns a qualitative study on the views of adults with intellectual disabilities on restrictive physical intervention procedures. Individual interviews and a focus group were conducted. Participants watched videos of five different restrictive physical interventions and a semi-structured interview followed each video. Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was used to analyse the data. Six overarching themes emerged, including emotional reactions to the holds, cognitive reactions to the holds, concerns about safety, restriction, reporting the incident and attempts by participants to put the holds into context. Themes were on a continuum, with views from the most to least restrictive holds represented along the continuum.