Improving attitudes towards personality disorder: is training for health and social care professionals effective?

Health and social care professionals are more likely to hold negative attitudes towards people with a diagnosis of personality disorder than toward people with other mental health diagnoses. Negative attitudes have also been found to adversely impact care and service provision. This review sought to systemically evaluate training aimed at improving professional attitudes towards people with a diagnosis of personality disorder. Electronic databases PsychINFO, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and ProQuest were searched, and 19 articles were identified. Results show that training is effective and that improvements tend to be maintained. The results suggest that (1) co-production with people with personal experience of a personality disorder diagnosis, (2) communicating a psychological model to participants, and (3) teaching participants clinical skills for use in their work improve effectiveness. Further research in the form of randomized controlled trials that use validated measures and follow-up participants for at least 6 months is needed.