Understanding the Consumers' Experiences of Safewards: A Qualitative Exploratory Study.
Antony Mullen, Brenda Happell, Bridget Hamilton and 1 others
PMID 39921349WHAT IT FOUND
People in Australian acute mental health units valued Safewards when it helped them connect with staff and each other.
They also said locked calming equipment, unclear orientation, and busy nurses made it harder to feel safe.
Key findings
01People described mutual support within Safewards, but some attended or saw interventions without knowing what they were for.
02Follow-up after incidents could help people feel safe, while disrespectful or dismissive responses were experienced as humiliating or potentially triggering.
03Access to calming equipment and nurses was uneven, and locked items or needing to ask staff made some people feel like a burden.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only consumers from the study units were interviewed, so the themes may not apply to other settings. No formal Safewards fidelity assessment was done, so the interventions may have been implemented differently across sites. The study did not measure whether Safewards reduced conflict or restrictive practices; it explored consumers' experiences. Participants were recruited with help from unit staff, and focus group discussion may have shaped what they said.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that Safewards made people safer or reduced restrictive practices. Safewards is a package of interventions, and this study did not measure those outcomes or separate the contribution of any single intervention.