'You squeal and squeal but they just hold you down'

Background: The experiences of service users who have been subject to restrictive physical interventions are largely unreported in the literature. Those studies that do exist report mainly negative emotions and responses.

Method: A qualitative method was used to analyse eight semi- structured interviews with service users who had either directly experienced or had witnessed restrictive physical interventions.

Results: The findings suggest that service users experience restrictive physical interventions as painful, emotionally distressing, and as indistinguishable from abuse, or from general violence in the environment. Service users attributed mixed motivations to staff and did not feel that restrictive physical interventions were justified; they also made practical suggestions for more positive alternatives.

Conclusions: This study adds to a growing literature pointing to the adverse effects of restrictive physical interventions. Practitioners should seek to reduce the need for the use of such interventions through the broader application of proactive approaches to positive behaviour support.