ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Psichiatrica 2020 September;61(3):63-76

DOI: 10.23736/S0391-1772.20.02072-5

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Psychiatric social work intervention and social functioning for people with bipolar affective disorder: a randomized control trial

Apurba SAHA ✉

Department of Social Work, Tezpur University, Tezpur, India

BACKGROUND: Bipolar affective disorder is common, under-recognized and poorly managed. It is associated with considerable personal and social impairment and as a chronic, life-long and relapsing condition; it has an enormous impact on the economy. BPAD is among the 10 leading causes of disability worldwide which affects virtually every aspect of a patient’s life, resulting in a high socioeconomic burden.
METHODS: The study adopted a classical experimental research design, before and after with control group. It was a single blinded randomized control trial with two parallel groups design, viz., the intervention and treatment as usual groups.
RESULTS: There is significant pre- and post-test improvement on social functioning and adjustment on intervention group than the control group. It reflects that the psychiatric social work intervention program may be useful in guiding the psychiatric social worker to enhance the social functioning and adjustment.
CONCLUSIONS: The PSW intervention program is useful to manage person with BPAD as a partner of multidisciplinary team. But, there is a pressing need for social work knowledge, interventions, and skills in the care of persons with BPAD and their families. A significant challenge for social work profession is to go beyond the role of clinical practitioner to that of researcher.

KEY WORDS: Psychiatric social work; Social adjustment; Bipolar disorder; Randomized controlled trial