Evaluation of a psychoeducational group intervention for family and friends of youth with borderline personality disorder

Abstract

BackgroundDespite high levels of burden and distress among families with a member who has borderline personality disorder (BPD), only two BPD specific family psychoeducation groups have been empirically evaluated. Neither of these is designed specifically for the family and friends of young people who are presenting early in the course of BPD. This study aimed to evaluate Making Sense of Borderline Personality Disorder (MS-BPD), a three-session, developmentally tailored, manualised psychoeducational group for the family and friends of youth with BPD features.MethodsThe study employed a pre- and post-intervention, repeated measures design. Twenty-three participants completed self-report measures assessing for family burden, psychological distress, and knowledge about personality disorder. Demographic data were collected for the group participants and for their associated young person with BPD. Paired-samples t-tests were conducted to evaluate the effect of the MS-BPD intervention on participants’ burden, distress and personality disorder knowledge.ResultsAt the completion of session three (day 15), group participants reported significantly decreased subjective burden and increased personality disorder knowledge. Objective burden and distress remained unchanged.ConclusionsFamily and friends of young people with BPD features experienced subjective, but not objective, benefit from attending a brief group-based psychoeducation intervention. Longer follow-up is likely to be required to detect behavioural change. The current findings support proceeding to a randomised controlled trial of MS-BPD.

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Group Psychoeducation for Carers of Persons With Borderline Personality Disorder

“…The fourth, the McLean Program, developed at Harvard, is oriented toward the future and is focused mostly on group discussion and problem solving (Berkowitz & Gunderson, 2002;Gunderson, 2008). The final and most recent program is based on the Helping Young People Early (HYPE) model of care (Chanen, McCutcheon, & Kerr, 2014) and cognitive analytic therapy, and has been developed specifically for family and friends of youth with personality disorder (Pearce et al, 2017).…”

Support, interventions and outcomes for families/carers of people with borderline personality disorder: A systematic review

“…A total of 11 studies describing seven interventions for or involving carers of people with BPD were retained. Six studies were conducted in the USA, two in Australia, one in the Republic of Ireland and two in the UK . Table provides a brief description of each intervention and identifies the associated studies.…”

Improving Family Functioning to (Hopefully) Improve Treatment Efficacy of Borderline Personality Disorder: An Opportunity Not to Dismiss

“…In an uncontrolled empirical study, Pearce et al [40] documented that MS-BPD significantly increased the relatives’ and friends’ knowledge of personality disorders, attitudes, and skills, and significantly decreased their subjective burden. However, MS-BPD seemed to be ineffective in reducing the relatives’ and friends’ level of objective burden [40]. No RCT data are currently available for both psychoeducational programs.…”

“…Up to now, only MS-BPD [40], FC [14, 16], and FS [24] family interventions received some form of empirical support. Indeed, these methods should be credited for allowing clinicians and family members to consider them in terms of empirical data, rather than in terms of considerations based on “clinical wisdom.” Although findings are encouraging in terms of statistical significance, the effect size estimates (Cohen d values) are usually in the small-to-moderate range with the exception for improvement in mastery; however, mastery improvement seems to be unstable at the follow-up [16].…”

“…Recently Pearce et al [40] proposed the Making Sense of BPD (MS-BPD) psychoeducational program; this program was specifically designed for relatives of BPD adolescents who were attending the Helping Young People Early (HYPE) program [41]. …”