Feelings Thermometer: An Early Intervention Scale for Seclusion/Restraint Reduction Among Children and Adolescents in Residential Psychiatric Care

PROBLEMRestraints and/or seclusions (R/S) are events that have the potential to cause patient injury, staff injury, re-traumatization, and even death. There is a gap in available data regarding alternative strategies for reducing R/S. METHODA 140-bed children and adolescent residential treatment hospital implemented a Feelings Thermometer Scale on each unit. The Feelings Thermometer allowed the resident to point to a face on the scale to rate how they were feeling from Cool to On Fire! Once the resident identified with a feeling and rating, options were offered for alternative cool down locations corresponding to each level of escalation. Data were analyzed 6 weeks before and 6 weeks after implementation of the Feelings Thermometer. FINDINGSThere were 129 R/S during the 6-week period prior to the implementation of the Feelings Thermometer. There were a total of 91 R/S during the 6-week period postimplementation of the Feelings Thermometer. Overall, a 29.1% decrease in R/S was experienced throughout the hospital. CONCLUSIONThe findings of this study suggest that further investigation may be warranted to promote alternative R/S reduction strategies.