About The Study

We have been funded by Mersey Care NHS Trust to undertake this research project for three years.

Below is a flow chart diagram explaining the process of the study:

Living with Bipolar Study Flow Chart explaining study process

Part 1: The Focus Groups - Recruitment Complete

Participants took part in three focus groups at Lancaster University.

Each group took place at different stages of development and asked different questions:

  • Focus Group 1: Beginning of intervention Development - participants took part in a discussion about their experience of self management, ideas about content of the new intervention, support required in using the intervention, possible barriers of use and their desired outcomes.
  • Focus Group 2: Middle of intervention Development - participants gave feedback on the content and initial web-based format of the intervention.
  • Focus Group 3: End of intervention Development - participants gave feedback on the final content, web based format and piloted the website before the intervention was prepared for the clinical trial.

Part 2: The Randomised Controlled Trial - Final call for participants

We are still looking for participants to take part in a trial to test the clinical effectiveness of the web based self management intervention. We are currently in the final stages of preparing this intervention for the clinical trial.

If you agree to be contacted, you will be contacted by email or letter (whichever you prefer) when we are ready to test the intervention, providing you with more information about the trial and inviting you to take part.

If you then agree to take part you will be placed at random in one of two groups:

  1. A group where you have access to the Living with Bipolar intervention for 6 months alongside your normal treatment.
  2. A group where you do not get access to the intervention but receive your normal treatment. If you are placed in this group you will have access to the intervention at the end of the trial. This should be September 2012.

We will then ask you, whichever group you are in, to complete a number of questionnaires to find out how you are getting on. The results of these measures will be compared to see which treatment is better; either the usual treatment on its own or with access to the intervention.

Read more information about this part of the study.