Folk Johanna B, Yang Phillip, Thomas Anne, Lyon Jayme, Patel Jaisal, Yoon Clara
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
School of Medicine, University of Texas Health San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Front Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2023;2. doi: 10.3389/frcha.2023.1207575. Epub 2023 Nov 2.
Incarcerated youth commonly present with emotion dysregulation, aggression, and comorbid psychiatric disorders, yet often do not receive necessary mental health treatment while confined. It is therefore crucial to expand the evidence base regarding empirically supported mental health interventions which are feasible to implement in secure settings to address incarcerated youth's mental health needs. Through a community-academic partnership, the current pilot study evaluated a comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy program implemented in a juvenile correctional treatment center.
Youth participants (N=113) were on average 15.37 years old (SD=1.10, range=13-17), 68.1% boys, and identified as 69.0% Latinx, 22.1% Black, 8.0% White, and 0.9% Native American. Youth received comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A), including individual therapy, skills training groups, family therapy, multi-family skills training groups, and skills coaching in the milieu by direct care staff who participated in extensive training and ongoing consultation team meetings. As part of a facility-designed program evaluation, youth completed a battery of empirically validated assessments of mental health and emotion regulation prior to and following completion of the program.
Results show that comprehensive DBT-A is feasible to implement in a juvenile correctional treatment center and overall, youth improved from pre- to post-treatment in mental health symptoms and emotion regulation, with small to medium effect sizes.
These findings build upon a growing literature showing Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a promising intervention for treating emotion dysregulation and mental health conditions and can be successfully implemented in juvenile forensic settings.
被监禁的青少年通常表现出情绪调节障碍、攻击性和共病精神疾病，但在被监禁期间往往得不到必要的心理健康治疗。因此，扩大关于在安全环境中可行的、以实证为依据的心理健康干预措施的证据基础至关重要，这些措施能够满足被监禁青少年的心理健康需求。通过社区与学术机构的合作，当前的试点研究评估了在青少年教养治疗中心实施的一项全面的辩证行为疗法项目。
青少年参与者（N = 113）平均年龄为15.37岁（标准差 = 1.10，范围 = 13 - 17岁），68.1%为男孩，69.0%为拉丁裔，22.1%为黑人，8.0%为白人，0.9%为美洲原住民。青少年接受了全面的青少年辩证行为疗法（DBT - A），包括个体治疗、技能培训小组、家庭治疗、多家庭技能培训小组，以及由参与广泛培训和持续咨询团队会议的直接护理人员在环境中进行的技能指导。作为机构设计的项目评估的一部分，青少年在项目完成之前和之后完成了一系列经过实证验证的心理健康和情绪调节评估。
结果表明，全面的DBT - A在青少年教养治疗中心是可行的，总体而言，青少年在心理健康症状和情绪调节方面从治疗前到治疗后有所改善，效应量为小到中等。
这些发现建立在越来越多的文献基础上，表明辩证行为疗法是治疗情绪调节障碍和心理健康状况的一种有前景的干预措施，并且可以在青少年法医环境中成功实施。
