Empirical evidence of the efficacy of System Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS) in the treatment of borderline personality disorder: A meta-analysis of published research

This study aims to perform a quantitative synthesis of research literature yielding empirical evidence of the efficacy of System Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS; Blum, Bartels, John and Pfohl, 2002) in the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). A search in the SCOPUS and PsychInfo databases yielded 7 studies (4 longitudinal, «open label» and 3 RCT), which provided data concerning the efficacy of STEPPS in reducing BPD symptom severity, as well as in reducing self-report depressive and general psychiatric symptoms. Although heterogeneity statistics were highly significant, cumulative effect size estimates (Cohen d) evidence high efficacy of STEPPS in reducing the severity of both self-reported (dw= 0.91) and observer-rated (dw= 1.24) BPD symptoms, as well as self-reported depressive symptoms (dw= 0.89); STEPPS showed moderate cumulative efficacy in reducing self-reported general psychiatric symptoms (dw= 0.65). Although the number of available studies on STEPPS efficacy was at best moderate, the results of our meta-analysis support the clinical utility of STEPPS in treating BPD.