Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T04:58:30.526Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Increased use of security personnel in Irish psychiatric hospitals: 2008–2012

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2015

S. Shannon ,
P. Devitt  and
K. C. Murphy
S. Shannon*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland Mental Health Commission, Dublin, Ireland
P. Devitt
Affiliation:
Mental Health Commission, Dublin, Ireland
K. C. Murphy
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
*
*Address for correspondence: S. Shannon, Department of Psychiatry, Education and Research Centre, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Smurfit Building, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives

Little is known about the involvement of security personnel in Irish psychiatric care. Content analysis of inspection reports is a feasible way to investigate this under-researched topic. We aimed to (i) Describe the number of approved centres per year in which we observed comments about the presence of security personnel in published reports of inspections conducted from 2008 to 2012 (ii) Report the main themes of all text relating to security personnel published in these inspection reports.

Method

We conducted a content analysis of all 349 inspection reports published between 2008 and 2012.

Results

The number of approved centres in which security personnel were noted increased from 3% to 8% between the years 2008 and 2012. This increase was not statistically significant when the same unique centres were compared between years (p=0.684). Employment details such as contracted employment relationship, location relative to the approved centre and hours of work appeared inconsistent across centres. Role functions of security personnel differed across centres and ranged from monitoring the entrance of a unit to observing, restraining and secluding patients. Contrasting perceptions of suitability were evident in the inspection reports. The extent to which the training needs of security personnel were met was unclear from the reports.

Conclusions

Activity of security personnel in psychiatric hospitals may not be role appropriate, compliant with legislation or conducive to treatment. Best practice guidelines should be developed in consultation with multiple stakeholders.

Keywords

Coercionhospital securitymental healthpsychiatry
Type
Original Research
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , December 2015 , pp. 319 - 325
Copyright
© College of Psychiatrists of Ireland 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aiken, F, Duxbury, J, Duxbury, C, Harbison, I (2011). Review of the medical theories and research relating to restraint related deaths. Caring Solutions (UK) Ltd in conjunction with the University of Central Lancashire. (http://iapdeathsincustody.independent.gov.uk/news/review-of-medical-theories-on-restraint-deaths-published/). Accessed 18 March 2015.Google Scholar
Berg, BL (2007). Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Allyn and Bacon: Boston, MA.Google Scholar
Bowers, L, Crowhurst, N, Alexander, J, Callaghan, P, Eales, S, Guy, S, McCann, E, Ryan, C (2002). Safety and security policies on psychiatric acute admission wards: results from a London-wide survey. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 9, 427–433.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowers, L, van der Merwe, M, Paterson, B, Stewart, D (2012). Manual restraint and shows of force: the city-128 study. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing 21, 30–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyatzis, RE (1998). Transforming Qualitative Information: Thematic Analysis and Code Development. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
Braun, V, Clarke, V (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, 77–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowman, S, Bowers, L (2009). Safety and security in acute admission psychiatric wards in Ireland and London: a comparative study. Journal of Clinical Nursing 18, 1346–1353.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Due, C, Connellan, K, Riggs, DW (2012). Surveillance, security and violence in a mental health ward: an ethnographic case-study of an Australian purpose-built unit. Surveillance & Society 10, 292–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) (2011). Report to the Government of Ireland on the visit to Ireland carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 25 January to 5 February 2010. (http://www.cpt.coe.int/en/states/irl.htm). Accessed 18 March 2015.Google Scholar
Government of Ireland (2001). Mental Health Act 2001. Dublin: Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Johnston, M (2014). “Telling masculine tales”: tracing my embodied experience as a psychiatric ward security guard through ethnographic narrative writing. Sociology Mind 4, 161–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilian, S, Swartz, L, Joska, J (2010). Competence of interpreters in a South African psychiatric hospital in translating key psychiatric terms. Psychiatric Services 61, 309–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landis, JR, Koch, GG (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 33, 159–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKenna, K (2008). Linking Safety and Service: Together Creating Safer Places of Service. Health Service Executive: Ireland.Google Scholar
Mental Health Commission (2014). Inspectorate of Mental Health Services (http://www.mhcirl.ie/Inspectorate_of_Mental_Health_Services/). Accessed 23 January 2014.Google Scholar
Mental Health Commission (2006). Mental Health Commission’s e-learning programme on the Mental Health Act 2001 (http://mhc.thelearningcentre.ie/default.asp). Accessed 18 April 2014.Google Scholar
Mental Health Commission (2013). Approved centre inspection reports (http://www.mhcirl.ie/Inspectorate_of_Mental_Health_Services/AC_IRs/). Accessed 26 September 2013–30 September 2013.Google Scholar
Psychiatric Nurses Association (2010). A Mental Health Service in Crisis. Psychiatric Nurses Association: Ireland.Google Scholar
Rogers, A, Pilgrim, D (2005). A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness. Open University Press: Berkshire.Google Scholar
Smith, J, Swartz, L, Kilian, S, Chiliza, B (2013). Mediating words, mediating worlds: interpreting as hidden care work in a South African psychiatric institution. Transcultural Psychiatry 50, 493–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, DE (2003). Psychiatric hospital challenges for healthcare security officers. Journal of Healthcare Protection Management 19, 54–64.Google ScholarPubMed