Reducing seclusion and restraint: questionnaire for organizational assessment

Mental health organizations that have successfully reduced or, in some cases, eliminated use of seclusion and restraint report that they have primarily focused on organizational factors to facilitate this process. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of an instrument that measures staff perceptions of organizational activities to reduce seclusion and restraint as well as staff attitudes toward the use of these interventions. Consequently, the instrument can be used diagnostically to identify areas in need of improvement and can also be used as an outcome measure to assess shifts in staff perceptions reflective of organizational change. This article describes validation of the instrument, information on its administration, and analysis and use of data obtained with it.