Use of seclusion and restraint in psychiatric patients in Harare Hospital Psychiatric Unit, Zimbabwe: gender differences.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the frequency and indications for use of seclusion and restraint of psychiatric patients in relation to gender differences and risk factors in Harare Hospital Psychiatric Unit.


METHODS
Descriptive study.


METHODS
Harare Central Hospital Psychiatric Unit, Harare, Zimbabwe.


METHODS
95 consecutively secluded/restrained patients were recruited for the study.


METHODS
The frequency of seclusion and the characteristics of patients secluded/restrained.


RESULTS
54 (56.8%) patients were males and 41 were females. They had a median (Q1, Q3) age of 30 (Q1, = 24, Q3 = 36) years. Over two thirds (70.5%) of them were aged 35 years or less. The frequency of seclusion and restraint was 8.5% (95% CI 6.9 to 10.1) of the population of 1,115 patients admitted during the study period. The groups (male versus female) differed significantly with respect to marital status; single patients being 4.66 (95% CI 1.17 to 19.96) times more likely to be males when compared to the divorced/separated patients. Male patients were more likely to have been brought by police than by their relatives or friends (OR 3.30; CI 1.19 to 9.73; p = 0.020).


CONCLUSIONS
Seclusion/restraints of psychiatric patients were common in a psychiatric unit. Male patients were more likely to be brought by police. Female patients resorted more to physically assaulting staff/other patients than did male patients.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Zimbabwe Medical School, Harare, Zimbabwe.
M B
MB
Sebit
S
S
Siziya
S W
SW
Acuda
E
E
Mhondoro
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006757:Hospital Units; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D010356:Patient Isolation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018579:Patient Selection; D012149:Restraint, Physical / Q000379:methods*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015030:Zimbabwe