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The Reduction of Mechanical Restraints and PRN Medication in 400 Persons with Neurodevelopmental Disorders: an Analysis of 11 Years Process in 23 Italian Residential Settings

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Abstract

Contrary to public policy and research expectations, restrictive behavior practices continue to be used with individuals with intellectual disabilities. This paper reports the effects of a multi-component service package for a residential service for over 400 adults with intellectual disabilities and challenging behavior. Over an 11-year period, there was a large and near elimination of mechanical restraints and pro re nata medications and a decrease in staff working days missed because of resident aggression, despite an increase in the complexity of resident needs. This study demonstrates that large-scale, long-term reduction of restrictive behavior management practices is possible using a multi-component organizational reform package.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

ML: collaborated with the design of the study, collaborated with the execution of the study, assisted with data analyses, and wrote the paper. RC: collaborated with the design of the study and assisted with data analyses. GC: collaborated with the design and the execution of the study and assisted with data analyses. SC: designed the study, executed the study, and analyzed data. FF: collaborated with the execution of the study. MLG: collaborated with the execution of the study. GM: collaborated with data analyses. GM: collaborated with the execution of the study. MU: collaborated with the execution of the study.

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Correspondence to Mauro Leoni.

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The Authors, in accordance with the policy of their institutional review board, obtained the approval of the research by the internal scientific committee.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Informed consent has been obtained by the authors, for the patients involved in the study, and no reported data can be referred to individual identity.

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Leoni, M., Cavagnola, R., Chiodelli, G. et al. The Reduction of Mechanical Restraints and PRN Medication in 400 Persons with Neurodevelopmental Disorders: an Analysis of 11 Years Process in 23 Italian Residential Settings. Adv Neurodev Disord 2, 353–361 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-018-0087-z

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