This study examined staff perceptions of the behaviour of older nursing home residents and how these perceptions govern their decision making on restraint use. Data were collected in unstructured interviews with 20 trained and untrained nursing staff from two Swiss nursing homes. Data analysis was based on Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Two main themes were extracted from the data: (i) situations in which behaviour is perceived in terms of a problem that needs to be controlled and consequently leads to restraint use; and (ii) situations in which behaviour is perceived in terms of something one has to learn to live with and consequently leads to avoidance of restraint. Staff members' choices to perceive resident's behaviour from the angle they did were clearly associated with the rights and responsibilities of both nursing staff and older people. It is concluded that the primary source of change towards the avoidance of restraint use does not necessarily lie in external factors, but in staff members themselves.