The use of physical restraint in a school setting: an examination of physical restraint use and injuries to students and staff

The use of physical restraint in order to control violent or aggressive adolescents and adults continues to be practiced widely throughout various agencies, as it has for many years. Historically the use of physical restraint in educational settings has typically been in special education programs, but recent reports show that the use of physical restraint is believed to be used more broadly and being widely integrated into more schools. While there is no exact number on the amount or extent of injuries to students or to staff as a result of the use of physical restraint, it is believed that the use of physical restraint has increased as more students with difficult or severe behavioral needs are being served in schools throughout the nation. Injuries and deaths associated with the use of physical restraints in school settings have come to the attention of the public and have created an increased concern of the use of these procedures in school settings. While most professionals view restraint as an emergency procedure, little is known about its intended purpose or outcomes, let alone whether it achieves that purpose or is effective in achieving desired outcomes. The dearth of information about the purpose, use and outcome of physical restraint in school settings is of great concern considering that educators are supposed to rely on evidence-based practices that are supported by scientific research. This study aims to determine the relationship between the use of physical restraints and subsequent injuries in school settings. Sources of Data This study is based on data gathered from nonpublic agency records of a Non-Public School located on site of a California Residential Treatment Facility for adolescent males from September 1, 2004 to August 31, 2005. Within the facility is a staff operated incident report database containing information on every incident for the entire facility, for which an incident report was required to be written. From the incident report database facility staff created a new database excluding all personal information that could have been used to identify the students or staff involved in the physical restraint. Data for this study were gathered from the newly created incident report database excluding all personal information. Conclusions Reached The highest number of physical restraints occurred within the fall months of September, October and November throughout the 2004-2005 school year. With 87 total restraints in September, 83 physical restraints in October, and 72 physical restraints in November, this data supported Hypothesis 4 that the highest number of restraints would occur within the fall months, specifically September, October and November, when comparing the number of physical restraints of all four seasons. This study also revealed that students yielded a higher number of injuries from physical restraints compared to staff, supporting Hypothesis 1. Specifically there were 96 student injuries, compared to 36 staff injuries. Another finding was the time of day in which the highest percentage of injuries as an effect of physical restraint occurred was from 11:01am to 12:00pm. These findings did not support Hypothesis 3, which stated that the highest percentage of injuries would occur during the first hour of school, specifically 8:00am to 9:00am. Lastly, the Team Prone Restraint yielded the highest number of injuries compared to any other type of physical restraint, with 60 injuries between students and staff. This data supported Hypothesis 2, which stated that the use of the Team Prone Restraint would yield a higher number of injuries compared to the other four methods of physical restraint used.