An attributional study of seclusion and restraint of psychiatric patients.

This descriptive study used two attributional frameworks to examine the causes psychiatric inpatients and nurses gave for the seclusion and restraint of patients. Patients were interviewed in restraints. The reasons patients and nurses gave for the patients restraint were recorded verbatim. A nominal system using the recorded responses was developed by two attribution researchers and were also coded along the dimensions of locus, controllability, and stability. The findings supported attribution theory and research in that most patients and nurses gave causes for the patients' restraint. However, the data suggest more research is needed in this area.