Use of the Safewards Model in healthcare services: a mixed-method scoping review protocol

Safewards is an organisational approach to delivering inpatient mental health services. The aim of Safewards is to minimise the number of situations in which conflict arises between healthcare workers and patients that lead to the use of coercive interventions (restriction and/or containment).The Safewards Model has been developed, implemented and evaluated for its impact on all forms of containment. Safewards has been adopted as the recommended approach to preventing patient agitation and clinical aggression in some jurisdictions. Notwithstanding these recommendations, the outcomes of Safewards for staff and patients have not been comprehensively described.The aim of the scoping review is to describe (1) Safewards interventions; (2) how Safewards interventions have been implemented in healthcare settings; (3) outcome measures used to evaluate the effectiveness of Safewards; (4) barriers and enablers to the uptake and sustainability of Safewards. This review will provide a foundation for further research and/or systematic review of the effectiveness of Safewards.

Peer-reviewed manuscripts of quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method research in English with be included for the period 01 January 2013- December 31st 2020. Electronic databases including Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane, Embase, Emcare, Joanna Briggs Institute, Medline, Global Health, PsycINFO and Scopus will be searched. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews checklist and explanation and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocol will be followed. Publications will be excluded if they do not include the required participants, concept or context. Two reviewers will independently screen all titles and abstracts and full-text studies for inclusion.

Ethical approval for this review is not required as the information to be collected is publicly available. There are no participants or safety considerations in this review of published literature. Key findings for future research and clinical practice will be disseminated though peer-reviewed publication, stakeholder reporting and conference presentations.