Seclusion as a Cultural Practice in a Special Hospital

ABSTRACT

This paper outlines the role of seclusion practice within the Special Hospital cultural setting and identifies a format of action research initiated to produce the basis for changing practice. The organisation of the action research study is set amidst the institutional requirements and the personal commitments of those taking part. The objectives of the study were to create the medium through which change could be encouraged by the reflective operation of those involved. Action research was to establish in the context of everyday working practice the values that underpin the decisions regarding seclusion use, to identify dilemmas within professional discourse, and to feedback to the participants various interpretations regarding the inherent ideological conflicts. It was anticipated that this dialectic approach would lead to the possibility of alternative practices. Although the study is in the early stages of development, and this Is an early report, interpretations of transcripts suggest a complex cultural matrix based on statements involving ideologies of control based on clinical considerations of discipline and order.