Staff attitudes towards individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder: Can formulation reverse the stigma? An experimental, vignette-based study

Holroyd, Harriet and Beazley, Peter (2025) Staff attitudes towards individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder: Can formulation reverse the stigma? An experimental, vignette-based study. Issues in Mental Health Nursing. ISSN 0161-2840 (In Press)

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Abstract

Staff members working in mental health settings may experience stigmatising attitudes towards individuals with a personality disorder diagnosis. Little is known about how such attitudes may be modified or improved. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the impact of a written psychological formulation on attitudes towards an individual with a diagnosis of personality disorder. The current study had an experimental, vignette-based, between-subjects design and utilised online survey approach. Multidisciplinary staff members (n=141) from two large mental health trusts in the East of England took part in the study being randomly assigned to either the formulation or Non-formulation condition. Both groups read a short extract about the same fictitious patient. Participants in the formulation condition also read a psychological formulation regarding the patient’s presenting difficulties. Attitudes and causal attributions were compared between the two groups. The results of the study suggest that the addition of a psychological formulation, at least one structured along the lines of the 5-P’s framework, did not significantly alter participants’ attitudes towards the individual within the vignette in most domains measured. One domain of the Causal Attributions measure (‘Stability’) showed a change in the direction of increased stigma.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Mental Health and Social Care (fka Lifespan Health)
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	06 Aug 2025 17:30
Last Modified:	06 Aug 2025 17:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100095
DOI:	issn:0161-2840

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