The PANDA project examines whether physical activity can be offered as a supplement to usual care for people with personality disorders, with particular focus on borderline personality disorder (F60.3, ICD-10) and avoidant personality disorder (F60.6, ICD-10). The aim is to evaluate feasibility, safety, and acceptability of two types of physical activity— a walking program and karate training— as additions to usual treatment.
Participants and Recruitment
A total of 60 participants will be recruited from two psychotherapeutic outpatient clinics. Participants may be at different stages of their treatment trajectory, and some may have completed their primary treatment when they join the project.
Design
The study is a three-arm randomized feasibility study, allocating participants to one of the following groups:
Control/usual care: Participants continue their current treatment without additional training but take part in the same assessments and questionnaires.
Walking program: Participants receive their usual treatment combined with an 8-week step-counter–based walking program that includes individual goal-setting and structured follow-up sessions.
Karate: Participants receive their usual treatment combined with 8 weeks of karate training (Shotokan Karate-Do), supervised by experienced instructors.
The training programs are tailored to each participant’s level and needs, and instructors are trained to support people with personality disorders.
Primary Outcomes
The main focus is to assess whether the supplemental interventions can be carried out as planned. This is evaluated based on:
Screening, recruitment, and retention rates
Attendance
Any adverse events and safety
Participants’ perceived acceptability and motivation
The goal is to determine whether a larger randomized controlled efficacy trial is practically feasible and relevant.
Secondary Outcomes
Secondary aims include examining potential changes in physical and mental health, including:
Physical measures: Body composition (bioimpedance) and fitness (submaximal fitness test) assessed before and after the 8-week intervention.
Psychological and behavioral measures: Emotion regulation, positive and negative affect, interpersonal functioning, personality symptoms, maladaptive behaviors, recovery, body image, body awareness, and physical activity level assessed via questionnaires at three time points: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 12-week follow-up.
Subanalysis: Qualitative interviews conducted after the intervention to explore perceived barriers, motivation, and acceptability.
This knowledge will be essential for planning any subsequent efficacy study aimed at evaluating clinical effects on physical and mental health.
Funding
The project is funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark.