Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 May 5:2:9.
doi: 10.1186/s40479-015-0030-0. eCollection 2015.

Stigma towards borderline personality disorder: effectiveness and generalizability of an anti-stigma program for healthcare providers using a pre-post randomized design

Stephanie Knaak  1 , Andrew Ch Szeto  2 , Kathryn Fitch  3 , Geeta Modgill  1 , Scott Patten  4
Affiliations

Stigma towards borderline personality disorder: effectiveness and generalizability of an anti-stigma program for healthcare providers using a pre-post randomized design

Stephanie Knaak et al. Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul. .

Abstract

Background: Stigmatization among healthcare providers towards mental illnesses can present obstacles to effective caregiving. This may be especially the case for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Our study measured the impact of a three hour workshop on BPD and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) on attitudes and behavioral intentions of healthcare providers towards persons with BPD as well as mental illness more generally. The intervention involved educational and social contact elements, all focused on BPD.

Methods: The study employed a pre-post design. We adopted the approach of measuring stigmatization towards persons with BPD in one half of the attendees and stigmatization towards persons with a mental illness in the other half. The stigma-assessment tool was the Opening Minds Scale for Healthcare Providers (OMS-HC). Two versions of the scale were employed - the original version and a 'BPD-specific' version. A 2x2 mixed model factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted on the dependent variable, stigma score. The between-subject factor was survey type. The within-subject factor was time.

Results: The mixed-model ANOVA produced a significant between-subject main effect for survey type, with stigma towards persons with BPD being greater than that towards persons with a mental illness more generally. A significant within-subject main effect for time was also observed, with participants showing significant improvement in stigma scores at Time 2. The main effects were subsumed by a significant interaction between time and survey type. Bonferroni post hoc tests indicated significant improvement in attitudes towards BPD and mental illness more generally, although there was a greater improvement in attitudes towards BPD.

Conclusions: Although effectiveness cannot be conclusively demonstrated with the current research design, results are encouraging that the intervention was successful at improving healthcare provider attitudes and behavioral intentions towards persons with BPD. The results further suggest that anti stigma interventions effective at combating stigma against a specific disorder may also have positive generalizable effects towards a broader set of mental illnesses, albeit to a lessened degree.

Keywords: Anti-stigma program; Borderline personality disorder; Dialectical behavior therapy; Healthcare providers; Psycho-education intervention; Social contact; Stigma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pre-post OMS-HC score: original scale and BPD version.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aviram RB, Brodsky BS, Stanley B. Borderline personality disorder, stigma, and treatment implications. Harv Rev Psychiatry. 2006;14:249–56. doi: 10.1080/10673220600975121. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lauber C, Nordt C, Braunschweig C, Rössler W. Do mental health professionals stigmatize their patients? Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2006;113(Suppl. 429):51–9. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2005.00718.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schulze B. Stigma and mental health professionals: A review of the evidence on an intricate relationship. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2007;19:137–55. doi: 10.1080/09540260701278929. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Thornicroft G, Rose D, Kassam A. Discrimination in health care against people with mental illness. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2007;19:113–22. doi: 10.1080/09540260701278937. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Fraser K, Gallop R. Nurses’ confirming/disconfirming responses to patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 1993;7:336–41. doi: 10.1016/0883-9417(93)90051-W. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources