Early Psychoeducational Intervention for Youth and Young Adults at Risk for Bipolar Disorder: A Feasibility Study: Intervention psychoéducative précoce pour les adolescents et les jeunes adultes à risque de trouble bipolaire : Une étude de faisabilité.

Abstract

Objective: Bipolar disorder (BD) often goes unrecognized and untreated for several years leading to serious consequences. We have recently developed a manualized telehealth-based group psychoeducational and resilience enhancement program for individuals at high risk for bipolar disorder (PREP-BD). The primary objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of implementing PREP-BD to enhance help-seeking intentions among high-risk individuals.

Method: The intervention consisted of eight weekly, 60-minute group psychoeducation sessions conducted via Zoom. Participants (N = 21), aged 17 to 24 years, who met the bipolar at-risk criteria, were assigned to one of four cohorts. Primary outcomes for this feasibility trial included sign-up rate, completion rate, and acceptability as measured by the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8). Preliminary efficacy was assessed using validated measures of help-seeking intentions, resilience, quality of life, and stigma, with pre- and post-intervention comparisons.

Results: Our findings indicate excellent feasibility as evidenced by timely recruitment, 100% sign-up rate, and 76.19% completion rate (defined as attending at least 75% of group sessions). The intervention showed preliminary improvements in help-seeking intentions, particularly for a hypomanic scenario. Quality of life also demonstrated significant improvement, while resilience and self-stigma showed non-significant trends toward improvement.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest the feasibility of implementing psychoeducation as an early identification strategy in individuals at risk for BD. Future randomized controlled trials are needed to investigate the effectiveness of PREP-BD.