Personality Disorder
Integrated Care Pathway
(PD–ICP)
8: Education and Awareness
July 2015
Acknowledgements
This document was produced by a partnership of NHS Highland staff, volunteers, service users
and staff from other public and third sector organisations.
The NHS Highland Personality Disorder Service will coordinate future reviews and updates
of this document.
NHS Highland would like to thank everyone involved in the creation of this document.
July 2015
Contents
8 Education and Awareness
8.1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................
8.2 Education and awareness-raising resources ...................................................................
8.3 Personality Disorder Integrated Care Pathway ...............................................................
8.4 Scottish Personality Disorder Network (SPDN) ...............................................................
8. Education and Awareness
8.1 Introduction
Education about personality disorder recognised to benefit those who suffer with the condition
and members of their social networks, as well as the staff, agencies and services involved with
this patient group.
Personality disorder is common in the general population. People with personality disorder
frequently have contact with many different services and agencies including primary care,
general health, mental health, housing, social work, criminal justice and third sector services.
The difficulties with which people with personality disorder present may vary depending on the
agency or service involved. For example, an individual may present to the housing services as
someone with difficulty in maintaining a tenancy whereas the Emergency Department may view
the person’s primary problem as repeated overdoses. For social services, childcare and
parenting issues may be viewed as the principal problem, and so on.
The complexity associated with personality disorder means that patients with the condition
frequently pose significant challenges to the professionals working with them. Occasionally
professionals can find it hard to understand why individuals present as they do, and the
emotional responses of professionals to particular behaviours or patterns of behaviour can be
intense and sometimes unhelpful. Education with the aim of enhancing knowledge, attitudes
and skills can be of real value in helping professionals become more aware of the issues which
frequently accompany personality disorder. This includes factual knowledge about these
conditions, contributing factors, prognosis and treatment approaches. In turn, improved
knowledge and active self-reflection can contribute to more helpful attitudes and more
compassionate responses towards patients with these conditions.
This section deals only with education and awareness interventions for professionals. While no
less important, issues related to patient (and social network) education can be found in the
Psychosocial Interventions Section and Self Management Section. In addition, psychoeducational materials which may be of benefit to patients, social network members and
professionals can be found in the Appendix.
8.2 Education and awareness-raising resources
Until now, much of the education and awareness delivered by the Personality Disorder Service
has been on an ad-hoc basis. Educational sessions have been provided to many of the
disciplines, services and the agencies listed above, and in other settings. Sessions have usually
followed specific requests and been tailored according to particular needs. In some settings,
educational sessions have been co-delivered with service users. Service user involvement in
education and awareness-raising adds the patient’s unique experience of living with personality
disorder to the professional perspective.
The Personality Disorder Service educational programme is currently undergoing development,
including evaluation of the possibility of electronically available educational modules. Currently,
the main regular educational sessions occur four times per year. Each session covers a
different personality disorder-related subject and lasts for approximately 2 hours. The PDS
distributes dates and topics by email. Anyone with an interest in personality disorder is
welcome. As well as these regular sessions, the PDS service will consider any request for
education on subjects related to personality disorder.
8.3 Personality Disorder Integrated Care Pathway
This ICP itself aims to serve as a valuable educational tool. Each section summarises an
important topic in personality disorder and useful resources and links can be found throughout.
In addition, the publication of this document will be supported by an educational and awareness
raising program. The educational support aims to be broad in scope, including primary care,
general health, mental health, other public sector and third sector services.. This list is not
intended to be exclusive, and the PDS will endeavour to respond to requests for awarenessraising of the PD-ICP document.
8.4 Scottish Personality Disorder Network (SPDN)
The NHS Highland PDS is actively involved with the SPDN. The SPDN was established by the
Scottish Government in 2006 to promote awareness of personality disorder and to provide a
forum to allow professionals, patients and members of their social networks to meet in order to
help progress work on personality disorder locally and nationally. The SPDN usually meets at
least three times a year in different locations around Scotland. This is to ensure that interested
individuals can access the Network. Conferences are open to service users, members of their
social networks and professionals.