Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) Skills Approaches for Patients with Severe and Enduring Mental Illness: a Quality Improvement Project and Patient’s Journey

Donaghy, L.D. (Lizzy)

Submission type

Poster only

Scheduled

Poster, Beurs van Berlage , Grote Zaal

Kernwoorden

Group therapy Novel Therapeutic Approaches

Onderzoeksgebied

Adults

Introductie

I carried out a Quality Improvement Project to measure whether there was an improvement in clinical outcome scores, in patients with severe and enduring mental illness recruited from psychiatric outpatient clinic, following engagement in a six month Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) Skills Approach group. In addition my project details one patient’s journey through this therapy group.

Materiaal en methodes

Clinical improvement was measured before and after completion of the six month group using the scale 'Core Outcomes in Routine Evaluation' (CORE-10) in eight patients with a range of different diagnoses. A detailed case review was carried out on patient A, a 72 year old female with a background of schizoaffective disorder.

Resultaten

CORE-10 initial average score = 16 (n=8); CORE-10 average score in those completed 6 months group = 13.6 (n=5) (3 patients disengaged from the group). Patient A reported reduced difficulties in emotion regulation, improved ways of coping, improved self esteem and reduced suicidal thoughts.

Conclusie

It could be proposed that a flexible, collaborative therapeutic approach for patients with a range of diagnoses, taking into account individual challenges as opposed to diagnostic labels, could be beneficial and cost-effective for the ongoing management of diverse groups of patients in the future.