Effect of psychoeducation in addition to medical treatment on functioning, quality of life, perceived social support, coping skills and compliance in bipolar patients

Bipolar disorder has adverse effects on the lives of the individuals and the people around them and causes disability due to impaired social and occupational functioning, risk of suicide, and frequent relapses. This study is conducted as three months follow-up design to determine the effect of psychoeducation on functioning, quality of life, perceived social support, coping skills and compliance. A total of 72 patients with bipolar disorder who are followed by outpatient clinic of bipolar disorder at Akdeniz University Hospital were assigned to the study and invited to psychoeducation. Prior to education, sociodemographical data, plasma levels of drugs are recorded and Social Functioning Scale (SFS) for bipolar disorder, WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), COPE, Morisky Medication Adherence Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support perceived are applied. 30 of 72 patients are attended to Psychoeducation. 3 months following the education, patients are asked to complete previous scales and also asked to apply outpatient clinics in order to get information about clinical development such as changes in drug therapy, new episodes and also plasma levels of drugs. As are result, quality of life, social connections and psychological health are improved. Levels of functioning in areas of stigmatization, introversion, domestic relations are increased. Perceived social support especially family subscores are increased. As expected religious and emotional oriented coping attitudes are significantly decreased. Rates of taking efficient dosage of drugs and compliance are not significantly but slightly increased which can be explained by small sample size and short follow-up. Consequently, besides medical treatment, giving Psychoeducation is an important issue among bipolar patients which is recently recommended. Providing psychoeducation in the early stages of disorder, replicating the education from time to time and integrating family into education could reinforce the positive impact of psychoeducation. For the future study, larger sample size and longer follow-up duration are necessary