An interventional study of PULS and TAU in Anti Social Behavior, sponsored by Karolinska Institutet. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 16 Years to 21 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-19.
Sponsored by Karolinska Institutet · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
Background Youth involved in criminal groups represent a growing, high-risk population within Swedish institutional care, with elevated rates of recidivism and poor long-term outcomes. Cognitive behavioral programs show promise in reducing reoffending, but evaluation research in institutional youth care, especially randomized controlled trials, remains scarce. PULS, a cognitive behavioral treatment targeting prosocial behavior, criminal attitudes, and recidivism, is implemented across the institutional youth care institutions in Sweden (SiS) but has not been scientifically evaluated.
Aim This project evaluates the feasibility and effects of PULS among youth aged 16-21 in SiS institutional care, with a focus on youth involved in criminal groups, and examines mechanisms maintaining antisocial behavior.
Methods Four studies are conducted: a within-group feasibility study (N≈50) assessing implementation and preliminary effects; a qualitative interview study (N≈30) exploring youth and therapist perceptions; a multicenter randomized controlled trial (target N=224) comparing PULS plus treatment as usual to treatment as usual alone, evaluating effects on behavioral problems, prosocial behavior, and recidivism up to 24-month follow-up; and a diagnostic study assessing psychiatric comorbidity and its association with outcomes. Data are collected via standardized instruments, diagnostic interviews, and national registers, analyzed primarily using Linear Mixed Models and time-to-event analyses.
Significance This project provides the first scientific evaluation of PULS and is one of the few randomized trials in Swedish institutional youth care, informing future intervention development for youth involved in criminal groups.
67 studies on the registry are indexed under Antisocial Personality Disorder; 10 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 224 is above the median of 140 across 43 interventional studies indexed under Antisocial Personality Disorder.
Browse Antisocial Personality Disorder studies →Karolinska Institutet is the lead sponsor of 1,148 studies on the registry; 276 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for Youth Involved in Criminal Groups
Behavioral: PULS
Treatment as Usual
Behavioral: TAU
A cognitive behavioral treatment targeting prosocial behavior, criminal attitudes, and recidivism.
Treatment as usual at the institution.
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
The instrument measures, among other things, behavioral problems, emotional and social problems and prosocial behavior in a self-assessment version and a teacher version.
Time frame: Week 0 (baseline) Week 30 (post-intervention) Week 42 (3-month follow-up) Week 54 (6-month follow-up)
No study locations are listed for this record.
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Start is estimated for Jan 2027; primary completion for Dec 2029, 35 months later.
Of 25 interventional studies with no phase under Antisocial Personality Disorder, half reached primary completion within 53 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 29 and three quarters within 66. This study's planned 35 months is below that.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Aug 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Antisocial Personality Disorder →