Initial usability and feasibility evaluation of the SIMPLe Smartphone application to monitor and psychoeducate bipolar patients

Background The SIMPLe project was designed with the aim of developing a smartphone application (i.e. app) to monitor and psychoeducate subjects with bipolar disorder through highly personalized messages from both passive and active data. The project was based on a face-to-face group program, which has an increasing scientific evidence of its efficacy and cost-effectiveness reducing bipolar disorder relapses. Aims An initial feasibility study was conducted to evaluate the usability and satisfaction of an Android version of the SIMPLe app 1.0. Methods The SIMPLe feasibility study was conducted from March 2015 to June 2015. The participation in the study was offered to a consecutive sample of adult patients diagnosed of bipolar disorder I, II or NOS (not otherwise specified) attending the outpatient mental health clinic of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain. Results The participation in the study was offered to 72 stable bipolar patients. Forty-three subjects were enrolled in the study. Since the day the patients were enrolled in the study, the rate of completed tests was 0.74 per day and 1.13 per week. Nine emergency alerts were received through the application and notified to the reference patients’ psychiatrists. Ninety-five percent of the initial participants remained actively using the app and no relapses were identified during the 3 months of the study. Conclusion These preliminary results suggest a high feasibility of the SIMPLE app based on the rates of tasks completed and retention. Disclosure of interest The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.