Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, USA.
J Psychiatr Res. 2021 May;137:22-28. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.02.047. Epub 2021 Feb 21.
Smartphone apps have recognized potential for improving access to evidence-based care in the treatment of bipolar disorder (BD). Healthcare providers are well-positioned to play a role in guiding patients to access safe, evidence-supported, and trustworthy apps. However, little is known about whether and how clinicians use apps with people with BD: understanding practices and attitudes of healthcare providers is essential to support the implementation of mHealth interventions in a real-world context.
A web-based survey was used to explore clinicians' attitudes towards, and use of apps when working with people with BD. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize quantitative findings. Free text responses were investigated using qualitative content analysis.
Eighty healthcare providers completed the survey. Approximately half of the respondents reported discussing or recommending apps in clinical practice with BD populations. Recommended apps were most commonly related to mood, sleep, and exercise. Barriers to discussing apps included a lack of healthcare provider knowledge/confidence, concerns about patients' ability to access apps, and beliefs that patients lacked interest in apps.
Although research suggests that people with BD are interested in using apps, uptake of such technology among clinicians is more limited. A lack of clinician knowledge regarding apps, combined with concerns about the digital divide and patient interest, may account for this relatively limited integration of apps into the management of BD. These findings emphasise the importance of considering the information needs of healthcare providers when planning dissemination strategies for app-based interventions for BD.
智能手机应用程序在改善双相情感障碍（BD）治疗中获得循证护理的机会方面具有潜力。医疗保健提供者在指导患者获得安全、基于证据和值得信赖的应用程序方面具有很好的定位。然而，对于临床医生是否以及如何使用 BD 患者的应用程序知之甚少：了解医疗保健提供者的实践和态度对于在现实环境中支持移动健康干预措施的实施至关重要。
使用基于网络的调查来探索临床医生在与 BD 患者合作时对应用程序的态度和使用情况。使用描述性统计来总结定量发现。使用定性内容分析来研究自由文本回复。
80 名医疗保健提供者完成了调查。大约一半的受访者报告在临床实践中与 BD 人群讨论或推荐应用程序。推荐的应用程序最常用于情绪、睡眠和运动。讨论应用程序的障碍包括医疗保健提供者知识/信心不足、对患者获取应用程序能力的担忧以及认为患者对应用程序缺乏兴趣。
尽管研究表明 BD 患者有兴趣使用应用程序，但此类技术在临床医生中的采用更为有限。临床医生对应用程序缺乏了解，再加上对数字鸿沟和患者兴趣的担忧，可能导致将应用程序整合到 BD 管理中相对有限。这些发现强调了在为 BD 的基于应用程序的干预措施制定传播策略时考虑医疗保健提供者信息需求的重要性。
