Protected Engagement Time and Related Interventions: A Scoping Review of Experience and Outcomes, and Relevance to the Australian Context.
Donna Hristodoulidis, Brent Hayward, Adam Searby
PMID 42141528WHAT IT FOUND
In older adult mental health units, adverse events were similar with and without protected engagement time.
Other studies described better relationships and consumers feeling seen. Treat it as scheduled nurse time with consumers, not proven safety improvement.
Key findings
01The included studies reported themes of stronger nurse-consumer connection, with nurses described as making consumers feel seen and heard.
02In older adult mental health units, a quantitative study found adverse event rates were similar on units with protected engagement time and units without it.
03Participants described protected engagement time as more meaningful when activities matched consumer preferences, while short staffing and competing clinical demands limited delivery.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a scoping review, so it did not judge study quality or test whether protected engagement time works. Only eight studies were included, and only two involved older adult mental health units. No included study was conducted in Australia, so transfer to Australian practice is uncertain. The intervention had different names and inconsistent delivery; frequency, duration, attendance and activity type were not always reported. Many findings came from interviews, focus groups or self-reported questionnaires, which describe experiences rather than prove effects. Quantitative studies generally lacked control groups and relied on self-reported data, which may introduce measurement bias.
Declared interests
The authors reported no funding to disclose and declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that protected engagement time makes older adult mental health units safer. In the quantitative study of those units, adverse events were similar with and without protected time, and the review did not assess whether the included studies were high quality.