The Investigation of the Effectiveness of Mobile-based Psychoeducation in Patients with Bipolar Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)

Abstract

Background: Bipolar disorder is a chronic and debilitating psychiatric condition. Mobile-based psychoeducation is a very important tool for the treatment of this disorder. Objectives: The study aimed to provide scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of these tools for patients with bipolar disorder. Methods: In a randomized control trial (RCT) with a sample size of 41, the participants were randomly assigned to one of the intervention or the control arms based on the random number table. The study was performed in a psychiatric teaching hospital in Mashhad, Iran. The primary targets of the study was to measure the depression, manic, and anxiety symptoms that were measured at baseline and 3 months follow‐up for the intervention and the control group. A mobile application was developed and provided to the intervention group after discharge from the case hospital. The control group did not receive the application and received routine health care services during the study. A baseline comparison was performed between the groups, comparisons of the primary outcomes between the groups and within each group were carried out. Results: The results showed that the score of anxiety, depression, and mania at baseline and after the follow-up did not have a significant decrease within the groups. In addition, a slight reduction in the depression and anxiety scores within the groups was found. The mean of anxiety (P-value: 0.035), depression (P-value: 0.024), and mania (P-value: 0.007) after 3 month follow-up had a significant decrease between the groups. A baseline comparison was performed between the groups, and comparisons of the primary outcomes between the groups and within each group were carried out. Conclusions: Given the low effectiveness of using mobile-based psychoeducation on anxiety, depression, and mania in bipolar patients. It is recommended to use mobile applications as a complementary treatment along with other types of treatment for bipolar patients in future studies to obtain more evidence about the effectiveness of mobile-based psychoeducation.