Background: Despite growing acknowledgement of the usefulness of psychosocial interventions in improving outcomes for people with bipolar disorder, many evidence-based treatments are not readily accessible to people in everyday clinical practice. Where they are available, it is unknown whether psychosocial interventions delivered by clinicians in community settings achieve similar outcomes to those delivered in research settings.

Objective: This paper will outline a study that builds upon a randomised control trial (RCT) of a comprehensive psychosocial intervention for bipolar disorder. Results from the RCT demonstrated a significant reduction in relapse of any type (p=0.04) in the treatment group compared to the control group (treatment as usual) and significant reductions in hospitalisations and emergency contacts. The aim of the current study is to see if outcomes from the RCT can be replicated by clinicians who deliver the intervention in their routine practice.

Methods: We aim to recruit 40 clinicians and 100 patients with bipolar disorder from a wide range of public and private settings. Clinicians will be trained to facilitate the intervention with their patients in their practice setting. Data will be collected from clinicians regarding patient attendance and treatment fidelity. Patients will be assessed at baseline and upon completion of the intervention during nine, monthly telephone interviews to measure relapse of mood episode and service utilisation. These patients will be compared with the treatment and control groups from the RCT on variables including (i) number and type of relapse, (ii) days spent unwell and (i) service utilization.

Results/Conclusions: Data collection is currently underway and preliminary results will be presented. This paper will describe some of the considerations and challenges associated with translating research evidence into everyday clinical practice.