[Changes in the use of compulsory measures in Norwegian psychiatric institutions]

Abstract

This paper presents the second screening concerning the use of coercive measures in Norwegian mental health institutions. The use of mechanical restraint, seclusion and forced medication was recorded during the first six months of 1989 and of 1990. We found no change in the use of coercive measures from 1989 to 1990, nor did we find any differences when the results of this screening was compared with those of the first screening carried out in 1986-88. Mechanical restraint was the most commonly used coercive measure, and a total of 9402 hours of such constraint was recorded the first six months of 1990. In many cases, a substantial part of the total amount of mechanical restraint in the different institutions at different times referred to a single patient, which created large variations in the use of coercion. No correlation was found between the use of coercion on one hand and size of ward and staff ratio on the other; factors that otherwise are believed to be of importance for use of coercion.