Nurses' attitudes toward older persons on their use of physical restraints

This descriptive study explores the relationship between acute care nurses' attitudes toward older persons, their attitudes toward the use of physical restraints, and their actual use of physical restraints. Restraint use by 52 nurses employed in a hospital setting was assessed for a 1-week period. Three weeks later, two attitude questionnaires were administered to the same group of nurses. Although the incidence of restraint use was low (< 5%), results indicated that nurses with negative attitudes toward older persons were likely to favor the use of restraints with older persons (p = .006). Negative attitudes, however, were not related to the actual use of physical restraints. Factors such as the number of older persons (p = .02) and confused patients (p = .01) in the nurse's assignment, the unit census (p = .00), patient age (p = .00), mental status (p = .00), and the presence of incontinence (p = .00) were significantly related to restraint use. These findings suggest that strategies other than changing nurses' attitudes may be more effective in reducing restraint use.