Does a psychoeducational approach reach targeted patients with bipolar disorder?

Objectives:The goal of this paper was to determine factors which are related to motivation of bipolar patients to attend a psychoeducation program.Methods:Patients with bipolar disorder which had at least four years of prospective follow-ups were invited to a 6-week psychoeducation program. Patients who accepted and those who refused the participation were compared using several clinical characteristics.Results:Of the 173 patients who were invited, 84 participated in the program. Participants had significantly more family history of bipolar disorder and suicide, good response to prophylactic treatment, full medication adherence, therapeutic blood levels of mood stabilizers, regular follow-up visits, mixed episodes, and significantly less total number of episodes. Presence of mixed episodes, full medication adherence and therapeutic blood level of mood stabilizers were found predictive for attendance in logistic regression analysis.Conclusions:Our results suggest motivation and participation rates of patients who attended a psychoeducation program were constrained. Factors associated with a poor response to psychopharmacologic treatments also seem valid for non-attendance to the psychological interventions.