Objective:

To analyse the scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of a physical restraints free care model on institutionalized elderly.

Method:

this narrative review has been carried out in 6 databases related to health sciences (PubMed, Cuiden, the Cochrane Plus Library and the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Biblioteca Virtual en Salud and Dialnet).

Results:

20 studies were selected and 4 categories were established: justification of the physical restraints free care model, professional’s perception about the physical restraints free care model, educational intervention programs to professionals to reduce restraints, assessment of benefits of a physical restraints reduction program.

Conclusions:

physical restraints have important adverse effects on physical and mental health. They also have implications on welfare, autonomy and quality of life of residents. Its use can be reduced or even eliminated with reasonable levels of safety; therefore, the use of physical restraints is not acceptable nowadays in our society.

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