Evaluating the effect of mobile application-based monitoring in reducing disorder recurrence in bipolar patients

Evaluating the effect of mobile application-based monitoring in reducing disorder recurrence in bipolar patients

A clinical trial with a control group, with parallel groups, randomized using a table of random numbers is performed on 50 patients.

In the intervention group, the monitoring software will be installed on the patients' phones and the patients will be taught how to use the software. Patients are prompted with an alarm in the system to perform their daily monitoring. Symptoms that patients should evaluate include mood, sleep duration, medication use. In the control group, patients will use their smartphone for routine communication activities. All patients continue their standard treatment. Then, the patients are visited by a psychiatrist 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 2 months, and 6 months after discharge. The study will be conducted in 22 Bahman Qazvin Hospital.

Inclusion criteria: age over 18 years, having a minimum level of reading and writing, owning a smartphone and diagnosis of bipolar disorder according to DSM-V, discharge following an episode from a psychiatric hospital Exclusion criteria: pregnancy, substance use, lack of Persian language skills, and lack of consent to participate in the study

The intervention group installs the software on the patient's phone at the time of discharge, and after discharge, symptoms of disease recurrence and re-hospitalization are monitored in predetermined visits. In the control group without installing the software, symptoms of disease recurrence and re-hospitalization are monitored.

Re-hospitalization rate and duration of re-hospitalization

The randomization method is simple. The unit of randomization is individual and its tool is a table of random numbers. Creating a random sequence using web randomization. Concealment is done by central randomization method.