Experiences of MBT psycho-educational groups for PD in Secondary Care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring experiences of a Mentalization-based Psychoeducational (MBTi) group for people with Personality Disorder within Secondary care.
IRAS ID
192916
Contact name
Cerys Bradley-Scott
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Canterbury Christ Church University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 5 days
Research summary
This study explores how people with personality disorder (PD) experience Mentalization-based psycho-education groups. These groups are for people with personality disorder, which is a prevalent difficulty in secondary-care services and often associated with challenges such as high distress, low engagement, high-dropout and recurrent crisis presentations (Beckwith, Moran & Riley, 2014; Crawford et al. 2009).
Mentalization-based therapy (MBT) focuses on increasing the ability to think about our own (and other’s) states of mind, a process called ‘mentalizing’. This is thought to be a core difficulty in PD. MBT psycho-educational groups are a brief intervention grounded in this therapeutic approach. They aim to explicitly discuss and develop the mentalizing ability in people with PD.
MBT has a growing evidence base for helping people with PD and several studies have demonstrated its efficacy (Stoffers et al., 2012). Additionally, general psycho-education has a wide evidence base across clinical populations and settings (Luken & McFarlane, 2004). Authors have begun to outline protocols for MBT psychoeducational groups and report informal positive feedback from piloting these (e.g. Groat & Allen, 2011). However, to the author's knowledge, no formal studies to explore participants' experiences of these groups have yet been conducted. As such, this study will add to the knowledge base by exploring the impact of MBT psycho-educational groups from the perspective of service-users. This study will focus on a manualised version of MBT psycho-education (called MBTi) which has recently been developed by the Anna Freud Centre.
Every person attending an MBTi group in Oxleas' secondary-care service over a 12-month period will be invited to take part in an interview to discuss their experiences of these groups. These interviews will be analysed using a qualitative methodology (IPA) that investigates how people make sense of their experiences by looking for common themes in what participants discuss. An optional feedback event will then be held.
REC name
London - City & East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0146
Date of REC Opinion
24 Feb 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion