The psychoeducation BalancingMySwing (BMS) program has been developed manually and its feasibility has been tested in our previous study. This 3-year research project aimed to further examine the immediate and lasted effects of BMS program for bipolar disorders (BD), and to assess its knowledge dissemination and the transferability of its evidence-based practice across multiple sites.
During the first 2 years, a randomized controlled trial was conducted. Patients diagnosed with BD were recruited and 104 patients were randomly assigned to treatment as usual (TAU) or to 8 BMS sessions. A battery of three outcome indicators-social rhythm, illness perception, and symptom severity-were used to examine the effects of the two groups at baseline, after intervention, and every 3 months until half year. In addition, a pre- and post-test quasi-experimental study combined with qualitative design was used to assess the translational feasibility of BMS and to explore related barriers and facilitators of implementing BMS in clinical settings in the third year. Nurses from 4 Hospitals received the BMS training, and patients with BD received the BMS translated in practice were recruited.
