Is breakaway training effective? An audit of one medium secure unit

Abstract

Abstract Background: Violence to mental health staff is a major problem in the UK. Breakaway training may improve knowledge, attitudes, and stress. It is unknown if breakaway training is effective in clinical environments. Aim: To audit the effectiveness of breakaway training in a sample of clinically-based mental health nurses in a medium secure forensic mental health unit. Method: Audit using a cross-sectional design with an opportunistic sample of 47 clinically-based mental health nursing staff in a forensic medium secure unit. Participants had previously been trained in breakaway techniques. They were approached by the audit team on the ward and randomly selected one of five possible life-threatening assaults that they then had to break away from. Measures were blind ratings by breakaway trainers of the participant's correct use of technique and time. Where participants were unable to break away after 10 seconds the scenario was stopped. Descriptive analysis of the sample and inter-rater agreement of ...