Enhancing de-escalation in mental health (EDITION study)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Enhancing de-escalation techniques in adult acute and forensic units: development and evaluation of an evidence-based training intervention. (EDITION)
IRAS ID
235692
Contact name
Owen Price
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Lay summary
Aim
Mental health service users have told us they do not think staff on wards manage situations well when service users become very distressed and angry. We want to develop and test a new training package to help nurses and doctors work better with service users so that these situations are managed better and earlier (called de-escalation techniques).Background
The way staff talk to service users and manage distress has an important role in calming situations and maintaining safety, and reducing the use of practices such as physical restraint or isolation. Although these practices may be necessary at times to maintain safety, they can cause serious mental and physical harm, and very rarely, death. NHS staff are trained in communication skills and calming strategies to be used when service users are distressed, often referred to as ‘de-escalation techniques’. Despite training, recent research shows practices such as restraint are used more often than they should be. This may be because no current models of training are proven by research to be effective. Therefore, developing and evaluating new types of training are urgently needed.Design and methods
We have received funding from the National Institute for Health Research to develop a new training package. To do this, a variety of approaches will be used. First, all available scientific evidence on de-escalation techniques will be gathered. We will also speak to service users, carers and relatives, staff, hospital managers and training staff to gather views on the best ways of reducing distress, without the need for potentially harmful practices such as restraint. This will be done in a series of group interviews and research meetings. We will use these findings to develop new training. This training will then be evaluated in a future trial.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/YH/0035
Date of REC Opinion
5 Mar 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion