Citation

Treloar AJC. Psychiatr. Serv. 2009; 60(8): 1128-1131.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, American Psychiatric Association)

DOI

10.1176/ps.2009.60.8.1128

PMID

19648203

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This exploratory study was conducted in Australia and New Zealand and examined the impact of two types of education programs (cognitive-behavioral and psychoanalytic) on clinicians' attitude toward deliberate self-harm behaviors in borderline personality disorder and toward working with patients with this disorder.
METHODS: The Attitudes Towards Deliberate Self-Harm Questionnaire was used to assess the attitudes of mental health and emergency medicine clinicians (N=65) before and after attending an education program and at the six-month follow-up.
RESULTS: Compared with participants in the control group (N=22), participants in the cognitive-behavioral program (N=18) showed significant improvement in attitudes immediately after attending the program (p=.02), as did participants in the psychoanalytic education program (N=25) (p<.01). However, the six-month follow-up revealed that only the psychoanalytic education group maintained significant changes in attitude (p<.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Results are discussed in terms of the use of relatively brief educational interventions in facilitating enduring attitude change toward working with patients with borderline personality disorder.

Language: en

Keywords

Attitude of Health Personnel; Australia; Borderline Personality Disorder; Female; Health Personnel; Humans; Male; New Zealand; Program Evaluation; Surveys and Questionnaires