Borderline Personality Disorder and Autonomy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding autonomy in a specialist community-based service for Borderline Personality Disorder: A grounded theory study.
IRAS ID
274749
Contact name
Rebecca Goodfellow
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 31 days
Research summary
Receiving a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) can be a challenging experience. Research has highlighted negative attitudes towards the diagnosis of BPD, with individuals being labelled as “difficult” and “manipulative” and mental health services have historically excluded those with the diagnosis of BPD. Change in national policy has emphasised inclusion of individuals with a diagnosis of BPD and training to help improve negative attitudes from health professionals. However, negative attitudes continue to occur, impacting on therapeutic relationships and service user experience in accessing services.
Due to feelings of rejection and abandonment, individuals with BPD can experience difficulties in relationships. National policy highlights the important of focusing on developing positive relationships and promoting autonomy in those accessing services. Despite these recommendations, research indicates that individuals continue to feel dependent on services and are often treated differently to those without a diagnosis of BPD. Therefore, it seems particularly important to continue to find ways to improve the experience of accessing mental health services, for those with a diagnosis of BPD.
A Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) is thought to offer a framework for translating the articles of the Human Rights Act into good practice in mental health care. Autonomy is also a key principle of a HRBA and relates to an individual’s self-determination and choice about what happens to them.
The current study aims to explore autonomy and to generate a model to understand how individual autonomy can be upheld and how services respond and actively promote it. Service users and staff of an NHS specialist community-based personality disorder service will be asked to take part in semi-structured interviews to explore their experience in accessing and offering a personality disorder service. Themes and information provided will be used to generate a coherent model of autonomy relevant to specialist community-based services.
REC name
Wales REC 7
REC reference
20/WA/0151
Date of REC Opinion
29 May 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion