Two Perth based clinicians have demonstrated the usefulness of meaningful activities in reducing aggressive behaviour in an adult involuntary mental health unit.

Ms Flora Chong, an occupational therapist, and Ms Kim Yeak, a clinical nurse manager, conducted their quality improvement project in a 5 bed locked unit with clients admitted under the Mental Health Act. The clients usually experienced high levels of agitation resulting in aggressive behaviour. Ms Chong attributed the agitation to a variety of factors, including a lack of meaningful activities on the ward, limited occupational therapy staff to facilitate programs and a lack of opportunities for nursing staff to interact meaningfully with the consumers.

“So we developed a meaningful activities program facilitated by nursing staff three times a day for three months,” Ms Chong said. “The types of activities and clients’ interactions were recorded. Occupational therapists provided four training sessions to the nursing staff on how to facilitate the activities prior to the commencement of the program,” she said.

The outcome measures used were, first, the number of seclusions required to manage agitation and, second, the number of benzodiazepines that had to be administered to decrease agitation. Data were collected three months before the intervention and during the three months the program was implemented.

“The implementation of meaningful activities substantially reduced the level of agitation and physical aggression on the ward. During the three months of intervention the number of seclusions fell by 60 per cent and the number of benzodiazepines administered fell by 40 per cent,” Ms Chong reported.

“Nursing staff also reported improved patient relationship when given the opportunity to engage in therapeutic activities with the patients.”

The results of the study highlight the usefulness of meaningful activities and their importance for the wellbeing of involuntary patients. As a result of its findings, funding was made available three months later to employ a full time occupational therapy assistant at the locked unit to assist the nursing staff. The activities program therefore continued to run, facilitated by a combination of nursing and occupational therapy staff.

Ms Chong presented these findings at Occupational Therapy Australia’s Mental Health Forum, conducted today at the UTS Aerial Function Centre in Sydney.

Occupational therapists are allied health professionals whose role is to enable their clients to participate in meaningful and productive activities.

They are key providers of mental health services to people of all ages, playing an important role in the treatment, rehabilitation, skill development and recovery of clients. Occupational therapists working in mental health use a person-centred approach to supporting optimal engagement for people with mental illness.