|
Hubbard et al. (2016)
|
The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief group psychoeducational intervention for carers of individuals with bipolar disorder. |
RCT. |
17/22 |
Participants (n=32) were (a) aged ≥ 18 years and caring for someone with a diagnosed bipolar disorder. Recruitment: radio advertisements, local support/mental health services and university emails, in Perth, Australia. |
Two 150- minute group sessions spaced one week apart. |
Waitlist control. |
Burden Assessment Scale (BAS; Reinhard et al., 1994), Knowledge of Bipolar Disorder Scale (Hubbard et al., 2016), Bipolar Disorder Self-Efficacy Scale (adapted from Smith et al). |
Treatment group had significant reductions in caregiver burden (p < .001) and increases in bipolar disorder knowledge (p < .001) and bipolar disorder self-efficacy. Improvements maintained or increased to follow-up. |
Small sample size, specific to bipolar carers. |
|
McCann et al. (2015)
|
Effectiveness of a cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) based guided self-help (GSH) manual in decreasing Expressed Emotion (EE) in carers of a person with depression. |
RCT |
19/22 |
Primary family carers (n=54) of outpatients with a diagnosis of depression. Recruitment: family carers of patients from the outpatient unit at Suan Prung Psychiatric Hospital, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. |
Eight module CBT based GSH manual. |
Standard outpatient department support. |
The Resilience Scale (RS) (Wagnild & Young, 1993). |
Significant difference in resilience scores between time points (f (2, 102) = 15.1, p <0.001), with a partial η2 statistic of 0.228 indicating a large effect. |
Small sample size, sample is lacking diversity. |
|
Perlick et al. (2018)
|
Sustained effects of caregiver‐only adaptation of family‐focused treatment (FFT). |
Pilot RCT. |
18/22 |
Primary family caregivers (n = 36) of patients with a clinical diagnosis of bipolar I or bipolar II disorder. Recruitment: family members of patients referred from three mental health facilities, in New York, United States of America. |
12–15 session FFT sessions with psychoeducation and CBT. |
8–12-session health education (HE) intervention delivered via DVDs. |
Center for Epidemiological Studies of Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977), Mental Outcomes Studies Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36; Ware et al., 1995). |
Significant improvements were observed for mental health outcomes (SF-36) from pre-post and maintained at 6-months follow-up (p = .02) and significant decrease in depression scores (CES-D) from pre-to post-treatment which was maintained over the 6-month period (p = .003). |
Small sample size, bipolar carer specific, FFT had roughly twice the number of sessions as HE condition. Effect could be due to treatment dose. |
|
Racey et al. (2018)
|
Feasibility and acceptability of Mindfulness–based cognitive behaviour therapy (MBCT) for young people, their parents, and clinicians. |
Mixed-method feasibility study. |
14/24 |
Parents (n = 29) of young people (aged 14–18 years) with depression were recruited within a single Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Devon, England. |
8 session manualised group intervention. |
N/A (one arm study). |
Beck Depression Inventory-II (Beck et al.,1996), Rumination Response Scale (Treynor et al. 2003), Self-Compassion Scale (Neff 2016), Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (Brown & Ryan, 2003), The Experiences Questionnaire Decentring Subscale (Fresco et al., 2007). |
21 of the 25 young people/parents dyads who started the MBCT course attended at least six or more sessions, suggesting adherence. |
One arm trial, small sample size. |
|
Berk et al. (2013)
|
Acceptability and usefulness of online guidelines for caregivers of adults with bipolar. |
Mixed-method feasibility study. |
16/24 |
Participants (n = 121) were adult carers of adults with bipolar. Recruitment: study was advertised at mental health and carer organisations in various English-speaking countries, advertisements posted in doctors’ waiting rooms plus Google advertisements. |
An information website for carers of a person with bipolar disorder. |
N/A (one arm study). |
Items for website usefulness on a four-point scale (‘Very useful’ to ‘Not useful at all), demographic questions and question around estimated time spent viewing the website. |
97.4 percent of users found the intervention useful. |
One arm study, specific to carers of people with bipolar. |
|
Stjernswärd & Östman. (2011)
|
Feasibility of constructing a digitally based tool through an iterative design process in cooperation with potential users. |
Mixed-methods feasibility study. |
14/24 |
Participants (n = 16) were relatives of a person with depression. Recruitment: advertisement on in regional newspaper, website forum and carers of patients in psychiatric wards in south Sweden. |
Online platform, including diary activity, social forum, and scales, as a basis for group discussions. |
N/A (one arm study). |
SUS (system usability scale). |
The results show the pros and cons of using the online tools within a group. |
Small sample size, one arm design and based on potential users’ reflections about the digital tool, not on actual user experiences. |
