Sensory strategies in adult mental health: A qualitative exploration of staff perspectives following the introduction of a sensory room on a male adult acute ward

Abstract

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the use of sensory techniques to help with emotional regulation in adult mental health populations. This is against a backdrop of international policies aimed at reducing restrictive interventions and improving the effectiveness of de-escalation techniques. A sensory room was designed and implemented on a male adult acute psychiatric ward. Staff perspectives were sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the room in managing emotional distress by exploring staff awareness of a broader range of de-escalation strategies and by exploring what effect the room had on staff behaviours with respect to sensory interventions. A series of semi-structured interviews were carried out, analysed, and grouped into themes. Three themes emerged as follows: enhancing de-escalation, sensory interventions, and impact on staff. Findings showed that increased awareness of sensory processing and use of sensory strategies such as the sensory room were perceived by staff to have a positive impact on reducing distress with male service users. Staff use of the room was also discovered to have benefits that included staff attending to their own emotional needs and the use of the room supporting reflective learning during critical incident debriefing.

The experiences of patients in using sensory rooms in psychiatric inpatient care

“…Similarly, our findings align with research on how staff members perceive the effects of sensory rooms on patients’ well‐being and de‐escalation (Björkdahl et al . ; Forsyth & Trevarrow ; Smith & Jones ; Sutton et al . ).…”

“…Previous studies based on staff perspectives have had similar findings (Cummings et al . ; Forsyth & Trevarrow ; Novak et al . ; Smith & Jones ).…”

The Experiences of Women with a Diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) Using Sensory Modulation Approaches in an Inpatient Mental Health Rehabilitation Setting

“…The use of sensory modulation approaches, or sensory strategies, within inpatient mental health settings has tended to focus on the use of sensory rooms including equipment designed to provide regulating sensory inputs such as rocking or glider chairs, weighted items, music, visuals such as projection or nature scenes, and aromatherapy products (Dorn et al, 2020;Forsyth & Trevarrow, 2018;Lindberg et al, 2019;Smith & Jones, 2014). Sutton and Nicholson (2011) suggest that a sensory room can be helpful place to base sensory modulation intervention, however, many studies have narrowed focus to a sensory room alone (Bj€ orkdahl et al, 2016;Dorn et al, 2020;Forsyth & Trevarrow, 2018;Lindberg et al, 2019;Novak et al, 2012) or a specific piece of equipment such as a weighted blanket (Becklund et al, 2021;Champagne et al, 2015;Novak et al, 2012), offering only a limited insight into potential uses and benefits of the approach and most likely failing to reflect the individuality of the approach from person to person. In some studies access to specific sensory tools has been limited due to risk (Wiglesworth & Farnworth, 2016), and effectiveness has often been based on each singular use of a sensory room rather than detailed analysis of continued use by the same people (Champagne & Sayer, 2003;Dorn et al, 2020;Gardner, 2016;Wiglesworth & Farnworth, 2016).…”

“…Perhaps due to the nature of the client groups used within these studies, focus tends to be on symptom management rather than consideration of the wider impact the use of such approaches could have, with chosen outcome measures evaluating self-rated distress or levels of seclusion or restraint (Scanlan & Novak, 2015;Dorn et al, 2020). The majority of previous studies have been completed within settings with acutely unwell clients (Chalmers et al, 2012;Forsyth & Trevarrow, 2018, Gardner, 2016Lindberg et al, 2019;Lloyd et al, 2014;Smith & Jones, 2014) and forensic services (Wiglesworth & Farnworth, 2016) and a limitation of that has been the impact of symptomology on ability to engage with the approach (Gardner, 2016). Despite sensory modulation being an approach that developed within occupational therapy it is often evaluated medically with a focus on management of symptoms.…”

In our own words: The complex sensory experiences of autistic adults

“…Sensory reactivity differences can occur across multiple sensory domains, such as vision or touch, and are characterised by hyperreactivity (e.g., being over-responsive to sound), hyporeactivity (e.g., being under-responsive to sounds), and sensory seeking (e.g., being fascinated by lights) (Miller et al, 2007). Sensory experiences can be complex and although some sensory experiences can be enjoyable for individuals, other experiences can be very distressing (Elwin et al, 2012;Forsyth & Trevarrow, 2018). In particular, sensory hyperreactivity can greatly impact quality of life and has been found to correlate with clinically elevated levels of anxiety in both autistic children and adults (Carpenter et al, 2018;Green et al, 2012;Green & Ben-Sasson, 2010;Hwang et al, 2019;MacLennan et al, 2020).…”