The Sense of Commitment in Individuals With Borderline Personality Traits in a Non-clinical Population

Patient Commitment to Cardiac Rehabilitation: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND

Commitment to Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) is one of the essential strategies to reduce the long-term complications of cardiovascular disease. The attributes of patients' commitment have not been defined distinctly. Thus, the present study aimed to describe the attributes of commitment to CR from the participants' perspective.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This qualitative study was carried out in Tehran from 2018 to 2019. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 30 participants, including 13 CR specialists, 13 patients, and four caregivers, through purposeful sampling. The analysis was performed through the conventional content analysis using the Elo and Kyngäs approach.

RESULTS

Commitment to CR has one theme titled the attitudinal-motivational aspect that consists of four categories including attitudinal-cognitive, attitudinal-behavioral, attitudinal-emotional, and motivational as the core features. The commitment to CR is devotion, internal desire, and voluntary obligation to initiate and continue CR cooperatively, all of which are accompanied by the purposeful initiation of the treatment plan.

CONCLUSIONS

The patient's commitment to CR is an intrinsic interest in achieving health that stems from the acceptance of the disease and the need for treatment. Besides, the rehabilitation team facilitates purposeful interpersonal relationships between the patient and the treatment group. It provides the basis for the patient's active efforts to meet the challenges of the treatment process.

Probing commitment in individuals with borderline personality disorder

Interpersonal problems are a core symptom of borderline personality disorder (BPD). In particular, patients with BPD exhibit a heightened sensitivity to cues of acceptance or rejection in their relationships. The current study investigated the psychological processes underpinning this heightened responsiveness. In a between-subjects design, we implemented a reactivity induction designed to trigger either acceptance or rejection of a partner in two separate groups, and measured the effects which this manipulation had upon 49 patients with BPD, as well as 52 control participants. The experimental paradigm required participants to repeatedly choose whether to coordinate with their partner on a decision-making task. When both players coordinate on the same option, both are rewarded. The experiment probed participants' commitment to their partners: participants were sometimes presented with tempting opportunities to unilaterally defect from the coordination. The results show that participants in the BPD group were less committed than participants in the control group when exposed to the rejection manipulation.

Exploring the consequences of patient commitment to cardiac rehabilitation program: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Commitment to implementing cardiac rehabilitation (CR) plays an important role in managing the problems caused by heart diseases. Commitment to the treatment plan implementation is accompanied by numerous positive consequences. This study was carried out to explain the consequences of commitment to CR.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews with 26 participants (13 CR specialists and 13 patients), using purposeful sampling. Interview questions focused on the factors influencing the formation of commitment to the CR and its consequences. Conventional content analysis with Graneheim and Lundman's approach was used to analyze the data. To obtain data trustworthiness, Lincoln and Guba's criteria were used.

RESULTS

The findings were classified in three categories: purposeful of a purposeful behavior structure (sense of controlling and managing the condition, sense of responsibility, sense of security), formation of active performance structure (interaction between the patient-family-treatment team, stabilization of behavior and prevention of intermittent behavior, no cessation of the treatment plan and adherence to it, directing behaviors and adaptation to conditions) and achieving dynamic and effective care (active follow-up of the treatment plan, sense of satisfaction, reduced readmission, reduced costs, improved quality of life, reduced anxiety and concerns about treatment failure, increased self-care ability).

CONCLUSION

The results show that the patient's commitment to CR is accompanied by optimal consequences. The results of this study can help design the training plan for the CR staff and develop the clinical practice guidelines to provide educational-care approaches to patients to reinforce their commitment.

Key themes in recent research on interpersonal functioning in borderline personality disorder

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

We provide an overview of new ideas and directions of research on interpersonal functioning in borderline personality disorder (BPD).

RECENT FINDINGS

We highlight the following key themes emerging in recent and ongoing research: investigation of the cognitive and motivational mechanisms which underpin impairments of interpersonal functioning in BPD, tracking BPD across the lifespan with earlier interventions and longitudinal studies, expansion of the scope of interest to family members of individuals with BPD and to people in the general population with levels of BPD traits, and investigating BPD online, not only by using internet-based testing platforms but also by studying the social media use of individuals with BPD.

SUMMARY

The concise discussion of recent research on BPD provided here, together with the identification of key themes emerging from this work, provides a snapshot of ongoing work devoted to better understanding interpersonal functioning in borderline personality disorder.

Interpersonal Functioning in Borderline Personality Disorder Traits: A Social Media Perspective

This is the first study to demonstrate interpersonal difficulties associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD) features in the domain of social media. Using crowdsourcing, we presented participants with a battery of questions about their recent social media use, and then assessed their BPD features using the short form of the Five-Factor Borderline Inventory. The results revealed that individuals with higher BPD trait scores reported posting more often on social media, as well as a higher incidence of experiencing regret after posting on social media, and of deleting or editing their posts. They also report a higher degree of importance of social media in their social behavior and daily routines. These results highlight the pervasiveness of interpersonal difficulties associated with BPD features even in the non-clinical population, and demonstrate that these difficulties are also observable in social media behavior. Our findings may provide a starting point for research using data from social media to illuminate the cognitive and emotional processes underpinning the interpersonal difficulties associated with BPD features, and to inform and assess therapeutic interventions.