Mechanisms of change in the treatment of personality disorder (v 1.0)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mechanisms of change in therapy for personality disorder; a comparison of outcomes from medium and high secure treatment settings.(v 1.0)
IRAS ID
141174
Contact name
Mary McMurran
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Research summary
Psychological, talking-based therapies for people with a diagnosis of personality disorder have been shown to be effective treatments for patients presenting in a range of settings including the community and secure psychiatric hospital. Little is known however, about the mechanism of change within the therapy process. Understanding the factors that promote personality and behavioural change during therapy for personality disorder is important as it could lead to the development of more effective and efficient therapeutic approaches that benefit both patients and health care providers. The current study aims to identify the processes and mechanisms of change during therapy in a sample of patients receiving (treatment for personality disorder in a specialist medium secure psychiatric unit. It is especially important to understand what this particular group of patients find most helpful in therapy (and also what is not helpful) as a) the treatment dropout rate in this population is high, b) treatment dropout is associated with poorer long-term outcomes and c) treatment costs are very high. The study will use a semi-structured interview to identify the patients’ views and a checklist to compare patients’ opinion with finding from previous research conducted by PW and MM in a high secure setting.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/0178
Date of REC Opinion
16 May 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion