@article{ref1,
title="Mental health professionals' feelings and attitudes towards coercion",
journal="International journal of law and psychiatry",
year="2021",
author="Golay, Philippe and Bonsack, Charles and Mendez Rubio, Monserrat and Silva, Benedetta and Morandi, Stéphane",
volume="74",
number="",
pages="e101665-e101665",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Despite absence of clear evidence to assert that the use of coercion in psychiatry is practically and clinically helpful or effective, coercive measures are  widely used. Current practices seem to be based on institutional cultures and  decision-makers' attitudes towards coercion rather than led by recommendations  issued from the scientific literature. Therefore, the main goal of our study was to  describe mental health professionals' feelings and attitudes towards coercion and  the professionals' characteristics associated with them. <br><br>METHOD: Mental health  professionals working in the Department of Psychiatry of Lausanne University  Hospital, Switzerland, were invited to participate to an online survey. A  questionnaire explored participants' sociodemographic characteristics, professional  background and current working context, and their feelings and attitudes towards  coercion. Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling (ESEM) was used to determine the  structure of mental health professionals' feelings and attitudes towards coercion  and to estimate to which extent sociodemographic and professional characteristics  could predict their underlying dimensions. <br><br>RESULTS: 130 mental health professionals  completed the survey. Even if a large number considered coercion a violation of  fundamental rights, an important percentage of them agreed that coercion was  nevertheless indispensable in psychiatry and beneficial to the patients. ESEM  revealed that professionals' feelings and attitudes towards coercion could be  described by four main dimensions labelled &quot;Internal pressure&quot;, &quot;Emotional impact&quot;,  &quot;External pressure&quot; and &quot;Relational involvement&quot;. The personal as well as the  professional proximity with people suffering from mental disorders influences  professionals' feeling and attitudes towards coercion. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: As voices  recommend the end of coercion in psychiatry and despite the lack of scientific  evidence, many mental health professionals remain convinced that it is a requisite  tool beneficial to the patients. Clinical approaches that enhance shared decision  making and give the opportunity to patients and professionals to share their  experience and feelings towards coercion and thus alleviate stress among them should  be fostered and developed.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0160-2527",
doi="10.1016/j.ijlp.2020.101665",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2020.101665"
}