Knowledge, attitude and practice among nursing students, nurse educators and clinical mentors towards the use of physical restraints

Abstract

The use of physical restraints is a common practice in health care facilities in Hong Kong. Yet, there is also no local information on how nurse educators and clinical mentors influence the knowledge, attitude and practice of nursing students in the clinical practice. Therefore, it is beneficial to understand the change in the levels of knowledge, attitudes and practice towards the use of physical restraints in Hong Kong and restructured the education curriculum to fill the education-practice gap in physical restraints. The objectives are to examine the levels of knowledge, attitudes and practice towards the use of physical restraints among nursing students, nurse educators and clinical mentors in Hong Kong. Quantitative data was collected from three target participants by completing a self-administered questionnaire. Based on the responses from 114 participants, including 50 nursing students, 37 nurse educators, and 28 clinical mentors, relative adequate knowledge and positive attitudes on the use of restraints were found. The level of knowledge of nurse educators (M=22.8) is better than clinical mentors (M=24.0) and nursing students (M=25.1) (p=0.00). However, for the attitude, nurse educators (M=18.9) and nursing students (M=19.0) have better attitude than clinical mentors (M=20.1) (p>0.05). For nursing practice in use of restraints, nurse educators had a better practice (M=25.2) than clinical mentors (M=27.3) and nursing students (M=29.3) (p=0.00). In addition, level of knowledge (r=0.21, p<0.05) and attitudes (r=0.20, p<0.05) had a positive direct effect on practice. The results of this study provide insights to consider an education program on restraint use which should be planned during undergraduates so that more positive attitudes among nursing students and clinical mentors towards the use of restraints can be cultivated, thus leading to a higher standard of nursing practice.