None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) has had positive outcomes in correctional settings, especially with adolescents, female inmates and those with Borderline Personality Disorder. Similarly, DBT has also been implemented specifically to reduce self-harming. However, no randomised controlled trials on DBT have been conducted to reduce self-harm in the prison setting among young adults. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the efficacy of Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) informed treatment (as compared to treatment as usual, TAU) on young adult prisoners who self-harm or have associated borderline personality disorder symptoms. Specifically, the study aims: 1) To examine efficacy of DBT among prisoners who self-harm 2) To examine if the frequency of self-harming behaviour, thoughts and symptoms would decrease after the implementation of DBT
Interventions
The intervention for young prisoners who self-harm will be the modified dialectical behaviour therapy by Mission Australia’s Triple Care Farm. The group intervention is a 12-week, biweekly group-skills session conducted by two clinical psychologists who are DBT-trained. The modules included will be on mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. 1. Sessions will be in a group therapy format with up to 10 participants per group (Triple Care Farm, 2015). DB
The intervention for young prisoners who self-harm will be the modified dialectical behaviour therapy by Mission Australia’s Triple Care Farm. The group intervention is a 12-week, biweekly group-skills session conducted by two clinical psychologists who are DBT-trained. The modules included will be on mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. 1. Sessions will be in a group therapy format with up to 10 participants per group (Triple Care Farm, 2015). DBT is a structured, skills-based program which will teach participants skills such as mindfulness (i.e. to encourage teaching in the 'here and now' and focus on the present), distress tolerance (i.e. coping skills whenever participants are in a crisis), interpersonal effectiveness (i.e. how to behave in relationships and to maintain respect at the same time) and emotion regulation (i.e. how to identify emotions and manage emotions that are unhelpful or unjustified). Besides teaching skills, participants will also be given a treatment workbook where they can fill in their own notes during sessions. 2. Duration of sessions will be 2-hours 3. Strategies to monitor adherence: Register of attendance at the beginning of each session and a diary-card, where participants will need to tick which skill they used outside therapy times and any reasons why some skills are difficult than others and this will be reviewed at the beginning of every session 4. Biweekly means two sessions a week.
Sponsors
Project Air Strategy for Personality Disorders
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
Male
Age
14 Years to 21 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
- Malaysian nationality - Young adult prisoner aged between 14 and 21 years of age who self-harm - Males and Females - Does not necessarily need to know how to read or write, but must be able to understand English or Malay - Convicted prisoners only - Remaining length of sentence should be at least 6 months
Exclusion criteria
The participant is Non-Malaysian The participant is only able to comprehend minimum English or Malay language, and is only able to speak in his mother tongue (i.e. Chinese, Tamil or others) The participant is over 21 years of age The participant has significant mental health, physical or drug and alcohol concerns that may get in the way of their involvement or threaten the safety of other participants, The participant has less than 6 months left of his sentence
Outcome results
None listed