Systematic review of restraint interventions for challenging behaviour among persons with intellectual disabilities: focus on experiences

Abstract

Background: This article is the second in a two-part series. Heyvaert et al. focused on the effectiveness of restraint interventions (RIs) for reducing challenging behaviour among persons with intellectual disabilities) in the first article. In this second article, Heyvaert et al. focus on experiences with RIs for challenging behaviour among people with intellectual disabilities.

Methods: A mixed methods research synthesis involving statistical meta-analysis and qualitative meta-synthesis techniques was applied to synthesize 76 retrieved articles. This second article reports on the qualitative meta-synthesis of 17 articles on experiences with RIs for challenging behaviour among people with intellectual disabilities.

Results: The 17 included articles report on important variables relating to the persons receiving RIs, to the persons giving RIs and to their interactions and relationship, as well as variables situated at the meso- and macro-level.

Conclusions: The developed model can assist in reflecting on and improving of current RI practices among people with intellectual disabilities.

Keywords: challenging behaviour; problem behaviour; qualitative meta-synthesis; restraint.