Implementing DBT in Short-Term SUD-treatment

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

DBT-informed milieu therapy: Implementation of DBT-informed milieu therapy, including staff training and integration of DBT-informed principles and skills into daily inpatient treatment.

Treatment as usual: Standard short-term inpatient SUD treatment including milieu therapy, individual counseling, group-based interventions and pharmacological treatment according to routine clinical practice.

Study summary

The main objective of the study is to provide new knowledge about the implementation of DBT-informed environmental therapy in short-term substance use disorder (SUD) inpatient treatment. The study will examine which organizational and clinical conditions promote or inhibit implementation in clinical practice by elucidating how the implementation is experienced by staff (including experiences with structure, skill focus and environmental therapeutic principles) related to DBT-informed environmental therapy, DBT-SUD skill groups and patients' perceived satisfaction and utility.

A secondary and exploratory aim is to examine preliminary trends in clinical measures in patients over time, including changes in symptom burden and reported use of DBT skills throughout the course of treatment. The study further seeks, at a descriptive and hypothesis-generating level, to explore patterns in patient-reported conditions related to substance abuse, emotion regulation, and other clinical burden. The sample will consist of up to 70 adult patients and 12 staff. One half of the patients will receive ordinary short-term inpatient treatment, while the other half will receive DBT informs milieu therapy after the approach has been established in clinical practice without being implemented. All patients will complete questionnaires upon admission (baseline), week 6 and upon discharge (week 12).

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Fidelity to DBT-informed milieu therapy implementation — During the 12 week implementation period.
  Degree of implementation of DBT-informed milieu therapy at the unit level, assessed through documentation of staff training, implementation activities and adherence to planned DBT-informed practices, and feedback from staff and patients.Fidelity assessed through implementation records, staff questionnaires and qualitative staff interviews.

Trial sites (1)

More Helse Møre og Romsdal HF trials in Norway