Recruiting

Alliance-Focused DBT Training for Therapists Treating Borderline Personality Disorder

0 criteria met from your profileSee at a glance how your profile meets each eligibility criteria.
What is being tested

Alliance-Focused Dialectical Behavior Therapy plus Deliberate Practice

+ Alliance-Focused Dialectical Behavior Therapy plus Reflective Practice
Behavioral
Who is being recruted

Borderline Personality Disorder

+ Emotion Dysregulation
Over 18 Years
+8 Eligibility Criteria

See all eligibility criteria

How is the trial designed

Services Research Study

Interventional
Study Start: August 2025

See protocol details

Summary

Principal SponsorYork University
Study ContactTali Boritz, Ph.D.
Last updated: August 13, 2025
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner
Study start date: August 1, 2025Actual date on which the first participant was enrolled.

This study focuses on improving therapy for people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), a condition marked by emotional instability, impulsiveness, and difficulties in relationships. Traditional therapy methods often struggle to form strong therapeutic connections with BPD clients, which are crucial for successful treatment. This study investigates whether specific training programs can help therapists better handle and repair any issues that arise in their therapeutic relationships with BPD clients. The aim is to see if these trainings can improve therapy outcomes by teaching therapists how to effectively manage emotional and interpersonal challenges that often occur in BPD treatments. In the study, up to eighty psychotherapists will be randomly divided into two groups to receive different types of training over four weeks. One training involves reflective practice while the other uses deliberate practice, both focusing on improving therapists' skills to respond to alliance issues with BPD clients. Participants will be evaluated on their ability to recognize and address these issues through various tasks, and their personal traits like emotion regulation and empathy will also be assessed. The study will measure changes in these skills and traits, as well as gather feedback on the training's feasibility and acceptability, to determine how these approaches might enhance therapy for BPD patients.

Official TitleA Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating an Alliance-Focused Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Training Intervention for Borderline Personality Disorder 
Principal SponsorYork University
Study ContactTali Boritz, Ph.D.
Last updated: August 13, 2025
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Protocol

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
Design Details
80 patients to be enrolledTotal number of participants that the clinical trial aims to recruit.
Services Research Study
These studies look at how healthcare is delivered, managed, and organized. They aim to improve care quality, patient experience, and access to treatment.

How participants are assigned to different groups/arms
In this clinical study, participants are placed into groups randomly, like flipping a coin. This ensures that the study is fair and unbiased, making the results more reliable. By assigning participants by chance, researchers can better compare treatments without external influences.

Other Ways to Assign Participants
Non-randomized allocation: Participants are assigned based on specific factors, such as their medical condition or a doctor's decision.
None (Single-arm trial): If the study has only one group, all participants receive the same treatment, and no allocation is needed.

How treatments are given to participants
Participants are divided into different groups, each receiving a specific treatment at the same time. This helps researchers compare how well different treatments work against each other.

Other Ways to Assign Treatments
Single-group assignment: Everyone gets the same treatment.
Cross-over assignment: Participants switch between treatments during the study.
Factorial assignment: Participants receive different combinations of treatments.
Sequential assignment: Participants receive treatments one after another in a specific order, possibly based on individual responses.
Other assignment: Treatment assignment does not follow a standard or predefined design.

How the effectiveness of the treatment is controlled
In a non placebo-controlled study, no participants receive an inert substance (placebo) to compare outcomes. Instead, all participants receive either the experimental treatment or an alternative treatment (often the Standard of Care). This method allows researchers to compare the effects of the experimental treatment with those of a different active intervention, rather than a placebo.

Other Options
Placebo-Controlled: A placebo is used to compare the effects of the experimental treatment with those of an inert substance, isolating the true treatment effect.

How the interventions assigned to participants is kept confidential
Neither participants nor researchers know who is receiving which treatment. This is the most rigorous way to reduce bias, ensuring that expectations do not influence the results.

Other Ways to Mask Information
Open-label: Everyone knows which treatment is being given.
Single-blind: Participants do not know which treatment they are receiving, but researchers do.
Triple-blind: Participants, researchers, and outcome assessors do not know which treatment is given.
Quadruple-blind: Participants, researchers, outcome assessors, and care providers all do not know which treatment is given.

Eligibility

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria: person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Conditions
Criteria
Any sexBiological sex of participants that are eligible to enroll.
Over 18 YearsRange of ages for which participants are eligible to join.
Healthy volunteers allowedIf individuals who are healthy and do not have the condition being studied can participate.
Conditions
Pathology
Borderline Personality Disorder
Emotion Dysregulation
Criteria
7 inclusion criteria required to participate
Participants must have access to reliable internet service
Participants must state willingness to comply with study procedures (i.e., to complete pre- and post-intervention research evaluations, and between training homework exercises.
Participants must be regulated health professionals in Canada who are authorized to deliver psychotherapy as part of their scope of practice, or a students in training under the supervision of a regulated health professional in Canada authorized to deliver psychotherapy as part of their scope of practice.
Participants must agree to participate in the 4 weekly training intervention

Show More Criteria

1 exclusion criteria prevent from participating
None

Study Plan

Find out more about all the medication administered in this study, their detailed description and what they involve.
Treatment Groups
Study Objectives
2 intervention groups 

are designated in this study

This study does not include a placebo group 

Treatment Groups
Group I
Experimental
Immediately receives 4 sessions of a psychotherapy training intervention to improve ability to recognize and respond to alliance ruptures in treatments with clients with borderline personality disorder.
Group II
Active Comparator
Immediately receives 4 sessions of a psychotherapy training intervention to improve ability to recognize and respond to alliance ruptures in treatments with clients with borderline personality disorder.
Study Objectives
Primary Objectives

An 8-item video vignette task used to assess ability to respond effectively to challenging client interactions in therapy. Scores range from 56 to 280, with higher scores reflecting higher levels of facilitative interpersonal skills.
Secondary Objectives

A 12-item video vignette task used to assess ability to accurately detect alliance ruptures. Scores range from 0-12, with higher scores reflecting greater accuracy of rupture detection.

A 28-item video vignette task used to assess ability to accurately identify emotional expression. Scores range from 0 to 28, with higher scores reflecting greater accuracy of emotion recognition.

A 22-item self-report measure used to assess intellectual humility. Scores range from 22-110, with higher score indicating greater intellectual humility.

A 28-item self-report measure that assesses empathy. Scores range from 28 to 140, with higher scores reflecting greater empathy.

A 21-item self-report measure that assesses emotional sensitivity, intensity, and persistence. Scores range from 0 to 84, with higher scores reflecting greater emotional reactivity

A 36-item self-report measure that assesses difficulties with emotion regulation. Scores range from 36 to 180, with higher scores reflecting greater difficulties in regulating emotions.

A 14-item self-report measure that assesses implementation outcomes of acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness. Scores range from 14 to 70, with higher scores reflecting greater acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness of the training intervention.

Study Centers

These are the hospitals, clinics, or research facilities where the trial is being conducted. You can find the location closest to you and its status.
This study has 1 location
Recruiting
York UniversityToronto, CanadaSee the location
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One Study Center