Abstract
Frontline, milieu workers in psychiatric settings are often called upon to intervene by using physical restraint on their patients. Standard child care practice (Redl & Wineman, 1957) requires that such episodes be worked through verbally with the patients in order to ensure that the impact of such interventions is ultimately therapeutic. There has been very little written about how milieu staff experience such crisis situations. The intense feelings that staff experience and their thoughts about what their needs are regarding such situations are the focus of this study. Frontline child care workers and nursing staff from a variety of psychiatric treatment facilities were invited to complete a self-report questionnaire which was aimed at tapping their experience of using physical restraint. The results indicate that staff experience many troublesome feelings of varying intensity which they would like more opportunity to discuss and work through. The findings are discussed within a framework of the notions of transference and counter-transference.
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The author wishes to express appreciation to all the frontline staff who took the time to complete and return the questionnaire and to the supervisory staff of the agencies involved to J. R. Wachsmuth, L. Kostrzewa, E. Pask, and R. Williamson—for their advice and support during this study.
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Hunter, D.S. The use of physical restraint in managing out-of-control behavior in youth: A frontline perspective. Child Youth Care Forum 18, 141–154 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01184761
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01184761