Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation (Jul 2018)

A psychoeducational group intervention for family and friends of youth with borderline personality disorder features: protocol for a randomised controlled trial

  • Jennifer Betts,
  • Jessie Pearce,
  • Ben McKechnie,
  • Louise McCutcheon,
  • Sue M. Cotton,
  • Martina Jovev,
  • Victoria Rayner,
  • Mirra Seigerman,
  • Carol Hulbert,
  • Catharine McNab,
  • Andrew M. Chanen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-018-0090-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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Abstract Background Caring for a person with borderline personality disorder is associated with poor outcomes including elevated psychological distress and burden. This study will compare the effectiveness of two brief psychoeducational programs for carers of youth presenting for early intervention for borderline personality disorder features. The protocol for this study is presented here. Methods The study is a single-centre parallel group, randomised controlled trial. As a family unit, relatives, partners and friends (‘carers’) are randomly allocated to one of two treatment arms to receive either an online borderline personality disorder psychoeducation program, or both the online psychoeducation group and a face-to-face group program, Making Sense of Borderline Personality Disorder. Carers are assessed at baseline and follow-up (4 weeks after the intervention). It is expected that participants who received the combined group and online programs will have better outcomes than those who received the online program alone. The primary outcome is carer burden, assessed using the negative appraisal subscales of the Experience of Caregiving Inventory. Secondary outcomes include positive experiences of caregiving, coping, self-rated personality disorder knowledge, psychological distress, expressed emotion and quality of life. Discussion This will be the first published evaluation of a psychoeducational intervention for carers of youth with borderline personality disorder features using a randomised controlled trial design. The results have the potential to inform clinicians and carers about the effectiveness of brief interventions designed to support families and friends of young people with borderline personality disorder, and what medium those interventions should utilise. Trial registration Prospectively registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry ACTRN12616000304437 on 08 March 2016.

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