Impact of the 'Reserved Therapeutic Space' Nursing Intervention: an Intervention Study in Acute Mental Health Units

Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of the "Reserved Therapeutic Space" intervention for improving the nurse-patient therapeutic relationship in acute mental health units in Spain, as well as its impact in terms of quality of care and patients' perceptions of coercion. Design: Multicenter intervention study with control group. Methods: The study will be carried out in 12 mental health units in Spain. Given the conditions of evaluation in real clinical practice, paired randomization will be performed to assign centers to intervention and control groups. The "Reserved Therapeutic Space" intervention to be tested has been co-designed and validated by both nurses and patients. The quality of the therapeutic relationship, the care received, and perceived coercion among patients will be assessed at baseline and at discharge using instruments validated in our context. An estimated 131 patients per group are expected to participate. Funding was granted in July 2021 by the Institute of Health Carlos III (PI21/00605, Ministry of Science and Innovation) and in October 2021 by the College of Nurses of Barcelona (PR-487/2021). The proposal was approved by all the Research Ethics Committees of participating centers. Discussion: This study is expected to demonstrate the effectiveness of a specific nursing intervention on patient health outcomes including the level of the therapeutic relationship, the quality of care, the level of coercion and other specific indicators for acute mental health units. Impact: This project will lead to changes in clinical practice, transforming the current models of organization and care management in mental health hospitalization units, promoting the quality of the therapeutic relationship and, ultimately, the quality of person-centered care.