Development of a Personalized Real-time Intervention for Bipolar Disorder

This three-year intervention development proposal is submitted to the NIMH DATR Mood Disorders/Sleep Disorders Program A2-AID and is led by a New Investigator. The goal of this study is to further develop and then evaluate the clinical utility of a new personalized smart-phone intervention to enhance illness self-management in people with bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is a heterogeneous fluctuating condition and a leading source of disability. Consistent with NIMH Strategic Aim 3.2, self-monitoring tools are vital to clinical management and evidence-based psychosocial interventions for bipolar disorder. Practice guidelines state that all patients should receive education in self-monitoring and identifying adaptive responses to early warning signs and symptoms. Advances in technology have enabled electronic monitoring of patient-reported outcomes using mobile devices - an assessment strategy called Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). Using freely available software, we have developed a preliminary version of a novel smart-phone intervention that integrates EMA with brief psychosocial intervention designed for people with bipolar disorder. Mobile real-time interventions have been successfully applied in other chronic illnesses and have theoretical advantages over clinic-based interventions in motivating and cuing health-protective behavior. Our new intervention is called Personalized Real-Time Intervention for Stabilizing Mood (PRISM), and it delivers tailored intervention content naturalistically at the moment that symptoms occur. We recently conducted a small proof-of-concept study of PRISM in outpatient adults with bipolar disorder that suggests the intervention is feasible, presents no technological or operational barriers, yields data that corresponds with clinical ratings, and is perceived as useful by participants. Building from our preliminary work, we propose to further develop the intervention based on participant feedback and theoretically-driven en