Effectiveness of Barlow's Unified Protocol on self-injury behaviors and cognitive-emotional regulation strategies  in individuals with non-suicidal self-injury

Golmakani, Zeinab; Mashhadi, Ali; Bigdeli, Imanollah

doi:10.22059/japr.2025.384488.645048

Effectiveness of Barlow's Unified Protocol on self-injury behaviors and cognitive-emotional regulation strategies in individuals with non-suicidal self-injury

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Zeinab Golmakani ¹

Ali Mashhadi ²

Imanollah Bigdeli ²

¹ MSc. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

² Professor of the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

10.22059/japr.2025.384488.645048

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of Barlow's Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment on self-injurious behaviors and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in individuals with non-suicidal self-injury. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design with a follow-up was employed. The population comprised all women aged 18-27 who sought treatment for non-suicidal self-injury at health centers in Mashhad, Iran, in 2023. A sample of 30 participants was selected through voluntary sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 8 individual sessions of the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment (45 minutes each), while the control group received treatment after the follow-up period. Data were collected using the Inventory of Statements About Self-injury (ISAS) and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short Form (CERQ-short). Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA in SPSS-26. The findings indicated that the Unified Protocol significantly reduced the frequency and intensity of self-injurious behavior and all maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Moreover, the treatment increased three adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies: acceptance, positive refocusing, and positive reappraisal (P<0.05). These findings were maintained at the two-month follow-up.

Keywords

Non-suicidal self-injury

cognitive emotional regulation

Barlow's Unified Protocol