This resource explores: •Creating a positive culture of care to lessen the likelihood of care staff needing to use restraint. •Using good communication to help negotiate the many different and often emotive views of everyone involved in a decision to use restraint. •Providing learning and development opportunities that help promote a learning culture and support better decision-making about restraint. •Developing a positive physical care environment to help reduce the need for restraint

This resource explores: •How staff, residents and relatives view of risk and risk-taking will influence decisions about restraint. •How making good decisions about restraint is more likely if care staff are positive, show teamwork, keep good records, are aware of the alternatives to restraint and have some basic knowledge of the law on restraint. •How a careful five-step process can help when making difficult decisions about restraint: observe, do some detective work, come to a collective decision, implement and review the plan

This resource explores the ideas that: •Restraint can be a difficult issue in care homes, and the word means different things to different people. •There are many different types of restraint, ranging from active physical interventions to failing to assist a person. •Minimising the use of restraint is important, but sometimes it will be the right thing to do. •Knowing the individual, valuing the views of relatives and working as a team will help reduce the need for restraint.

These e-Learning resources explore the nature of managing risk and minimising restraint when working with older people in care homes.

This learning object explores mental health in later life. It reviews the meaning of mental health, why it is an important part of overall well being and how it relates to successful ageing. It also offers an overview of the different aspects of an older person's life and situation that impact on their mental health and the role that an individual and their family, the community they live in and wider society can play in promoting, or undermining, mental health. Please note that this object also contains a self-assessment section where you can test how far you have assimilated the key messages from this learning object.

These e-learning resources are freely available to all users and, through audio, video and interactive uses of technology, aim to raise awareness of key issues, research, messages, policies and approaches relating to the mental health of older people and, in so doing, positively impact on practice.