Children’s National has adopted a DBT-informed model across its child and adolescent inpatient psychiatry units, ensuring that youth receive consistent exposure to evidence-based skills during their stay.
Families of children and adolescents admitted to inpatient psychiatric units often face significant emotional strain while navigating complex mental health needs. While Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a well-established evidence-based treatment for adolescents experiencing suicidality and emotion dysregulation, there has been limited research on how best to involve caregivers in DBT during an inpatient stay. A new study led by psychologist Deborah M. Zlotnik, PhD, from Children’s National Hospital’s Division of Psychology and Behavioral Health, helps fill that gap by evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of a structured DBT skills group designed specifically for caregivers.
The study assessed the implementation of a weekly four-part virtual DBT skills series for caregivers. Using the Quality Improvement Framework, the team reviewed participation patterns, satisfaction levels and qualitative feedback across multiple phases of recruitment and delivery.
Why it matters
Caregivers play a critical role in supporting children and adolescents after discharge, yet barriers such as scheduling, limited space and inconsistent engagement often prevent families from accessing evidence-based resources during hospitalization. Dr. Zlotnik’s study found that caregivers who attended the DBT skills group reported high satisfaction, strong perceived benefit and increased confidence in supporting their child. Participants noted that learning the same skills their child was practicing during their inpatient stay improved communication, allowed them to coach effectively at home and helped create a more validating environment.
One caregiver summarized the impact: “This was very helpful in giving concrete things that we can implement to support our daughter when she comes home to ensure that we are all a part of the treatment team.”
The study also revealed practical insights into feasibility. After incorporating caregiver feedback about timing and accessibility, average attendance increased from 1.83 and 2.84 participants per group in earlier phases to 4.65 participants in the final phase, demonstrating a sustainable path to improving engagement.
Children’s National leads the way
Children’s National has adopted a DBT-informed model across its child and adolescent inpatient psychiatry units, ensuring that youth receive consistent exposure to evidence-based skills during their stay. Dr. Zlotnik’s research builds on these efforts by exploring how to more effectively integrate families into the treatment process, an area that remains underexplored.
By offering a structured, accessible DBT skills group for caregivers, the team identified a promising strategy to strengthen family involvement, enhance continuity of care post-discharge and reduce the emotional burden many families experience during their child’s hospitalization. The findings highlight an opportunity for inpatient units nationwide to more intentionally support caregivers using evidence-based approaches.
Read the study, Implementation of a Dialectical Behavior Therapy Caregiver Skills Group on an Acute Inpatient Unit for Youth, in the journal Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.