P-30
The user-experiences and clinical outcomes of an online personal health record to support self-management of bipolar disorder: a pretest-posttest pilot study.
S.C.G.H. van den Heuvel
(1) Expertise Center for Health, Social Care and Technology, Saxion; (2) Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, IQ Healthcare, Nijmegen; (3) Dimence Group, Center for Mental Health Care, Deventer; (4) Catholic University of Leuven, Centre for Health Services and Nursing Research, Leuven, Belgium
Background:
Self-management comprises knowledge, behavior, activities and resources providing patients with bipolar disorder (BD) control over fluctuating mood and activity-patterns. The ‘Self-management and Dialogue in Bipolar Disorder’ project entailed the tailoring of an online personal health record (PHR) originally designed for chronically ill patients to monitor their condition and share information with their clinician to patients with BD (PHR-BD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, utility and user-experiences of patients, relatives, and healthcare professionals who worked with the PHR-BD.
Methods:
Post-test open ended semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect information on utility, and user-experiences with PHR-BD. A pre-posttest design to evaluate clinical effects on quality of life, empowerment, symptom reduction, changes in mood and activity, and illness burden and severity at baseline and at 12-months follow-up.
Results:
Sixty-six patients logged in on PHR-BD at baseline. At study endpoint thirty-nine patients, eleven professionals and one family caregiver filled out the evaluations. No significant differences in the clinical outcomes from baseline were found. Qualitative evaluations showed a frequent utility of the mood chart modules, improved communication between clinician and patient and, increased insight in influencing factors of mood fluctuations.
Limitations:
Small convenience sample, no controls.
Conclusions:
The option to alternate the interface from a prospective to a retrospective mood chart , and integration with the personal crisis plan was considered to be of added value in self-managing BD. The findings of this study will guide the future implementation of the PHR-BD.