Clinical Research Directory

Metacognitive Interpersonal Therapy for Male Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators With Personality Disorders

Sponsor: Hugo César Vicente

Summary

This study evaluates the preliminary efficacy of MIT-MDO-PT, the European Portuguese cultural and linguistic adaptation of Metacognitive Interpersonal Therapy for Male Domestic Offenders (MIT-MDO), in adult men under judicial supervision for intimate partner violence (IPV) offences who meet criteria for a personality disorder. MIT-MDO-PT is an individual psychotherapy of 24 weekly 50-minute sessions delivered over approximately six months in four phases (case formulation and metacognitive assessment; mentalization and affect regulation; memory rescripting and shame transformation; consolidation and relapse prevention). The study uses a preregistered nonconcurrent multiple-baseline single-case experimental design across participants (target N = 5-7; enrolment ceiling 7): each participant completes a baseline phase with weekly monitoring (target of five data points), and treatment onsets are fixed a priori and staggered by at least three weeks between participants to provide internal experimental control without randomization. Primary outcomes are self-reported IPV perpetration (Revised Conflict Tactics Scales, CTS2), metacognition (Metacognition Self-Assessment Scale, MSAS) and personality pathology (Personality Inventory for DSM-5, PID-5), assessed at baseline (T0), after sessions 8 (T1), 16 (T2) and 24 (T3) and at 8-10-week follow-up (T4), with weekly monitoring of IPV (CTS2 physical assault and psychological aggression subscales) and psychological distress (CORE-10) throughout baseline and treatment. Where available, partners are assessed independently by a hospital victim-support service at T0 and T3 (Danger Assessment-5, CTS2 partner version, Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory-Short Form). Outcome assessment at T0, T3 and T4 is performed by an assessor independent of the therapist. Objectively recorded violence-related incidents (police or judicial occurrences, breaches notified by the supervising services, hospital safety-protocol activations) are collected as a secondary outcome. Analyses are conducted per participant (reliable change index, percentage of non-overlapping data, non-overlap of all pairs, Tau-U, structured visual analysis), with study-level conclusions based on replication across participants. Treatment fidelity is monitored through structured session notes and blind rating of 20% of sessions. The study is preregistered on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/wqpnc; protocol update v3.1, September 2026) and has a favourable opinion from the Ethics Committee of the University of Beira Interior, subject to the formal authorizations of the referring institutions.

Official title: Preliminary Efficacy of the Portuguese Adaptation of Metacognitive Interpersonal Therapy for Male Domestic Offenders (MIT-MDO-PT) in Men Under Judicial Supervision for Intimate Partner Violence With Personality Disorders: A Preregistered Multiple-Baseline Single-Case Experimental Design With Partner-Reported External Validation

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