Emotional Skills for women with borderline personality disorder trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A randomised feasibility trial of perinatal emotional skills groups for women with borderline personality disorder
IRAS ID
303255
Contact name
Paul Moran
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
People with a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder have stormy relationships, and experience distressing changes in mood, as well as urges to harm themselves. Pregnancy, childbirth and becoming a parent are therefore particularly challenging experiences for women with Borderline Personality Disorder. Currently, we do not know the best way to help women with Borderline Personality Disorder during pregnancy and in the year after childbirth - a time that is referred to as the perinatal period.
Emotional skills groups can help people to learn new skills in managing their feelings and relationships and these groups can relieve some of the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. Members of our team have adapted emotional skills groups for women with Borderline Personality Disorder during the perinatal period. They involve twelve group sessions that are flexibly delivered and cover a range of topics about feelings and emotions, becoming a mother and the relationship with the baby. We know that perinatal emotional skills groups are popular with women with Borderline Personality Disorder, but we have not examined whether the groups provide an effective treatment. A clinical trial would help us to find this out. A clinical trial is a research project where we compare two or more treatments or therapies. Trials are important because they help us to find out whether a new treatment or therapy is better, or more effective, than what is currently provided as standard care.
We are a group of clinicians, service users and researchers who want to find out whether a trial can be used to examine the effectiveness of perinatal emotional skills groups for women with Borderline Personality Disorder. In this study, we will offer perinatal emotional skills groups as an addition to standard care to half of the women, and the other women will be offered standard perinatal mental health care. Women will be invited to take part from South West England and London. Women who have used perinatal mental health services helped to plan this study and they will help us to ensure that we adopt the best and most sensitive methods for the future trial. They will also help us to share our findings with other members of the public.
Until now, the needs of women with Borderline Personality Disorder during the perinatal period have largely been ignored by the health service. We believe that this study can help ensure that in future, these women are provided with more effective treatment. If shown to be effective, perinatal emotional skills groups could greatly increase the number of women with Borderline Personality Disorder who receive effective help during the perinatal period.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/LO/0833
Date of REC Opinion
14 Dec 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion