LAUSR

Freedom-restricting measures in Bavarian residential facilities for children, adolescents, and young adults with intellectual disabilities Abstract. Objective: In Bavaria, around 10 % of youths with an intellectual disability (ID) live in residential facilities. In 2015, media raised accusations of inadmissible use of coercive measures. The REDUGIA project carried out a representative survey in Bavarian facilities regarding coercive measures (FeM), challenging behavior (hfV), and employee stress (MaB). Method: We sent a questionnaire concerning structural conditions, MaB, hfV and FeM to 65 Bavarian facilities for young people with ID. In addition to preparing descriptive evaluations, we performed correlative and regression analyses concerning the relationship between hfV, FeM, and MaB. Results: We retrieved data from 1,839 subjects in 61 facilities. 84.3 % of facilities reported low rates of hfV and FeM, while 15.7 % reported an increased incidence of hfV and FeM. For n = 1809 full-time position equivalents there were 639 physical attacks by residents over the course of 14 days. We observed 85 instances of sick leave and 33 transfer apllications/resignation associated with hfV. The frequency of hfV predicted the frequency of FeM (R² = 0.307, F = 21.719, p < .001). MaB correlated positively with hfV (r = 0.507, p < .001). Conclusions: The descriptive data indicate that hfV and FeM are not general phenomena but occur mainly in a circumscript number of highly specialized facilities. This emphasizes the need for prevention of hfV and FeM.