The Clinical Interview for Borderline Personality Disorder for Adolescents (CI-BOR-A): Development, acceptability and expert panel evaluation

Abstract

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental disorder with marked impulsivity, instability, emotional dysregulation and self-harm. These features tend to develop over time and can be identified in adolescence. Early diagnosis is the first step to prevent the development of these features to a personality disorder. The purpose of this study was to develop the Clinical Interview for BPD for Adolescents (CI-BOR-A), a new instrument based on a sound clinical interview for BPD in youth (CI-BPD). We tested its acceptability with 43 adolescents and its content validity with the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of 23 experts in mental health. The CI-BOR-A is a hybrid semi-structured interview that considers both categorical and dimensional approaches of personality disorders of DSM-5-TR, including 16 items, decision tables for diagnosis, and an appendix to explore self-harm history further. Adolescents accepted the interview, and none refused to complete the assessment. The expert panel considered the interview relevant, clear, accurate and complete. Important feedback was provided in terms of structure and content to improve the CI-BOR-A quality. In general, the CI-BOR-A is a rigorous interview to assess BPD in adolescents and adds an important contribution to early detection in clinical and community settings.