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Multicenter Study
. 2018 Feb 26;18(1):51.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-018-1627-9.

Dialectical behaviour therapy for treating adults and adolescents with emotional and behavioural dysregulation: study protocol of a coordinated implementation in a publicly funded health service

Daniel Flynn  1 , Mary Kells  2 , Mary Joyce  3 , Catalina Suarez  4 , Conall Gillespie  4
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Dialectical behaviour therapy for treating adults and adolescents with emotional and behavioural dysregulation: study protocol of a coordinated implementation in a publicly funded health service

Daniel Flynn et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: In the Republic of Ireland, borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a feature of approximately 11-20% of clinical presentations to outpatient clinics within mental health services. These estimates are similar to other countries including the UK and USA. Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is an intervention with a growing body of evidence that demonstrates its efficacy in treating individuals diagnosed with BPD. While a number of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have demonstrated the efficacy of DBT, there is limited research which evaluates the effectiveness of this model when applied to real world settings. Funding was secured to co-ordinate DBT training in public community-based mental health services across Ireland. As no other study has evaluated a co-ordinated national implementation of DBT, the current study proposes to investigate the effectiveness of DBT in both adult and child/adolescent community mental health services across Ireland, evaluate the coordinated implementation of DBT at a national level, and complete a comprehensive economic evaluation comparing DBT versus treatment-as-usual.

Methods/ design: This study takes the form of a quasi-experimental design. Individuals attending community mental health services who meet criteria for participation in the DBT programme will be allocated to the intervention group. Individuals who live in areas in Ireland where DBT is not yet available, and individuals who choose not to participate in the intervention, will be invited to participate in a treatment-as-usual comparison group. Self-report clinical measures and health service use questionnaires for DBT participants (and parent/guardians as appropriate) will be administered at pre-, mid- and post-intervention, as well as follow-up for participants who complete the intervention. Survey and interview data for DBT therapists will be gathered at three time points: prior to DBT training, 6 months after teams begin delivery of the intervention, and 2 years following training completion.

Discussion: It is anticipated that the results of this study will provide evidence for the effectiveness of DBT for patients, and report on recommendations regarding best practice guidelines for implementation of DBT and its economic merit in a publicly funded service.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03180541 ; Registered June 7th 2017 'retrospectively registered'.

Keywords: Adolescents; Adults; Borderline personality disorder; Community settings; Dialectical behaviour therapy; Economic cost; Effectiveness; Implementation; Public health service.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All procedures were reviewed and approved by the following research ethics committees: Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Cork University Teaching Hospitals, Galway Clinical Research Ethics Committee, HSE Mid Western Regional Hospital Research Ethics Committee, HSE North East Area Research Ethics Committee, HSE South East Area Research Ethics Committee, Linn Dara & Beechpark Ethics Committee; Naas General Hospital Ethics Committee; Saint John of God Hospitaller Ministries Research Ethics Committee and Sligo General Hospital Research Ethics Committee.

All potential participants will be provided with a participant information leaflet which outlines what their participation in the research study will entail. Participants will also be given an opportunity to review and discuss their participation in the study with a member of the research team. Participants are informed that they do not have to participate in the study if they do not wish and non-consent will not affect their right to treatment in any way. Participants are assured about data confidentiality and the measures employed to ensure secure collection, transfer, storage and management of data so that they can make an informed decision about study participation. Participants will be informed that they can withdraw their consent from the study at any time without providing a reason. If an individual is willing to participate in the study, they will be asked to sign an informed consent form. The written informed consent form will be signed at the first group data collection session with a member of the research team.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Overview of Implementation Evaluation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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