Dissociative disorder treatment in practice: an exploration of community clinicians’ adherence to expert recommended frequency of interventions

Abstract

Few clinicians have been trained to treat patients with dissociative disorders (DD), despite their prevalence. An online educational program for DD patients and their clinicians was developed to make training for DD treatment readily available to clinicians, while assisting DD patients in stabilizing their symptoms and improving their functioning. The current study assessed the extent to which participating clinicians reported using DD treatment activities at the frequency recommended by DD experts in the context of clinician factors and patient outcomes. Participants were an international sample of predominantly white, female DD patients and their treating clinicians (N = 89). Adherence to experts’ recommendations did not change over the course of the study, but clinicians’ initial adherence may predict patient outcomes after two years. The findings suggest further research is necessary to determine whether a meaningful relationship exists between patient outcomes and clinicians’ adherence to DD expert recommended frequency of treatment activities.