I Dare You to Drink the Vinegar

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to challenge the current practice of seclusion room use within a tertiary mental health rehabilitation facility through conducting a critical discourse analysis. I asked the research questions, “what is the discourse surrounding current use of seclusion rooms within this practice setting, how does this influence health care delivery, and what are specific actions that could be used to transform the current discourse for the purpose of improving health care delivery?” Both textual and verbal communication between interdisciplinary staff are analyzed within this practice setting to determine the dominant paradigms, and uncover the overarching power dynamics and explore their influence on workplace culture and health care delivery. This discourse is situated within the current body of research on seclusion room use. The results show that many challenges emerge from the opposing client centred recovery oriented model that guides the program and the...

It is surprisingly difficult to find any information that does not support the efficacy and benefits of harm reduction. I am a supporter of harm reduction (in the sense that I tend to let scientific evidence inform my nursing practice). I am a Registered Nurse, meaning scientifically collected evidence guides my practice. My philosophical viewpoint is strong. And so, it seems odd that there is a reluctance to accept the evidence of harm reduction as something to guide policy change. Similarly, if harm reduction is not something to be embrace, it also seems odd that this is not so much based on research being conducted that shows that there may be problems with it and identifies better alternatives to current policy or how more of the same can somehow lead to improvement in the lives of people who use substances.  So here we go, letting something that those in positions of power and privilege feel in their hearts determine public policy. Not surprisingly, most of the information tha...

Abstract      The purpose of this paper is to challenge the dominant social order in mental health that upholds the use of seclusion rooms as a means of therapeutic intervention using a critical discourse analysis method. This researcher asks the question, why do seclusion rooms continue to be common practice on acute inpatient psychiatric units when they are not evidenced based practice? A critical discourse analysis is conducted using 13 research studies found on the Google Scholar and CINAHL databases using the search terms: seclusion, seclusion room, psychiatry, inpatient and mental health. Each article is analyzed to determine the paradigm that was used to guide the research. The text of each article was analyzed to uncover the power dynamics present in the seclusion literature and how these interact with cultural variables. The results show that there are distinct power dynamics evident in the literature that present the mental health client in a position of s...