Non-Randomized Clinical Trial of a Short-Term Therapy Group for Adults Diagnosed With Borderline Personality Disorder: An Intermediate Step in Care
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(Published version)
Date
2025
Authors
Bartsch, D.R.
Cooke-O'connor, L.
Connerty, T.
Dahlenburg, S.C.
Cammell, P.
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Journal article
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Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2025; 81(9):855-867
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Dianna R. Bartsch, Laura Cooke, O'connor, Tracy Connerty, Sophie C. Dahlenburg, Paul Cammell
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Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Road Maps, a short‐term therapy group program (i.e., 12 weeks) as part of an intermediate step in care for adults with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Method: A pragmatic non‐randomized clinical trial study design was utilized to examine the effectiveness of Road Maps in a publicly funded community mental health care setting. First, we examined whether participation in the short‐term group intervention (n = 80) resulted in significantly greater reductions in psychopathology and improved psychosocial functioning compared to waiting for the intervention (n = 41). The waitlist condition was naturalistic (> 28 days) in that there was no specific allocation to conditions and all people on the waitlist had the opportunity to participate in the next available group. Second, we examined whether therapeutic gains were maintained at 6‐month follow‐up across the entire sample (N = 121). Finally, we analysed the proportion of respondents who demonstrated clinically significant change. Results: Relative to people on the waitlist for the intervention, those who participated in the group demonstrated a significantly greater reduction in the primary outcomes of borderline symptom severity and personality dysfunction (e.g., both self and interpersonal functioning) and secondary outcomes (e.g., emotion regulation, reflective functioning, and psychosocial functioning). Therapeutic gains were maintained at 6‐month follow‐up. Conclusion: Short‐term therapy groups such as Road Maps may be a useful intermediate step in a broader model of stepped care aimed at increasing treatment accessibility in resource‐constrained environments. Trial Registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12622000849796/retrospectively registered 16th June 2022.
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First published: 18 June 2025
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© 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Clinical Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.