PACTs for Bipolar
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Preferences and Advance Decisions for Crisis and Compulsory Treatment (PACTs) for Bipolar: Qualitative Study of Stakeholder Experiences of Creation and Implementation
IRAS ID
255288
Contact name
Gareth Owen
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 3 months, 29 days
Research summary
Bipolar is a severe mental illness that effects 1-2% of the population, it starts during young adulthood and needs management for the rest of the person’s life. It can cause extreme periods of low and high moods. During these crisis periods the person may be at risk of chaotic behaviours or self-harm and may need hospital admission to prevent harm. Unfortunately, at the time the person is unwell they may not recognise this need and have to be admitted involuntarily.
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust are running a Quality Improvement project to help people with Bipolar use their experience and that of their clinicians and family/friends to plan for future crises. The idea is to co-produce a document called a PACT (Preferences and Advance decisions for Crisis or compulsory Treatment) to help someone with Bipolar have more say in how future crises and compulsory treatment is managed.
A PACT is a type of advance decision-making (ADM) tool. International evidence suggests people with severe mental illnesses like Bipolar would like to use ADM but uptake is low and little is understood about why this is or the contextual factors which impact whether ADM tools (like PACTs) are helpful or not. This study will explore these issues using in depth interviews with group of service users, their friends/family members and clinicians who are using PACTs. They would have interviews throughout their journey of creating and using the document in crisis over 18 months. We hope to learn about the process of making a PACT, what service users and their supporters hope to achieve and which factors govern whether these hopes are realised. Through developing a detailed understanding of the experiences of this group we hope to inform the development of PACTs and the wider literature on ADM in mental health.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/1142
Date of REC Opinion
3 Sep 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion