| Methods |
Allocation: randomised, according to an algorithm that took into account prior admissions, prehospital treatment compliance and level of functioning; no information about allocation concealment.
Blindness assessments: not reported.
Duration: 11 months.
Analysis: t‐tests and likelihood ratios; no ITT analysis.
No of centres: not mentioned
Country: USA |
| Participants |
Diagnosis: bipolar disorder utilizing the SADS .
N: 42 (19 patients and their partners designated for esperimental group and 23 patients for control group).
Age: ranging between 21 ‐ 65 years (patients' average age was 47.7 years). Gender: distribution of patients was almost the same.
Setting: not mentioned.
History: Married or living with other of the opposite sex for at least 6 months (average of 17 years); no mention of illness duration or number of episodes. |
| Interventions |
1 ‐ Structured Marital Psychoeducational Intervention:
25 sessions for the couple plus standard medication treatment for the bipolar patient (mood stabilizers, antidepressants and antipsychotics).
2 ‐ Standard medication (bipolar patient), no marital psychoeducation. |
| Outcomes |
USED:
1 ‐ Dropouts at month 11
NOT USED:
2 ‐ Patients' symptoms (SADS‐C and BPRS) ‐ means without sd
3 ‐ Overall functioning ( SAS and GAS) ‐ means without sd
4 ‐ Adherence to medication treatment (Scale developed by the authors) ‐ means without sd |
| Notes |
Forty six patients have fullfiled inclusion criteria and signed informed consent, but 4 of them dropped out before randomisation. So we have considered only 42 participants. |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Allocation concealment? |
Unclear risk |
B ‐ Unclear |
