Research Projects

PARADES Programme Grant

Academics at the Spectrum Centre led by Professor Steven Jones have recently been awarded a prestigious £2m programme grant by National Institute for Health Research. The PARADES programme will run over 5 years in collaboration with Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust, Nottingham and Manchester Universities.

This is the first major award for research into bipolar disorder funded by NIHR and will focus on the development, evaluation and implementation of psychological approaches to bipolar disorder and comorbid problems.

There are five studies contained within it as follows:

Psychoeducation

A definitive randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing group psychoeducation with group peer support, both delivered by a service user and 2 clinicians.

Anxiety

A treatment development study concerning anxiety in bipolar disorder. This will have three phases. Phase 1 is a qualitative study of people’s experience of anxiety in bipolar disorder. Phase 2 is a consultative phase in which individuals with bipolar experience indicate ways in which anxiety intervention protocols might be made relevant to individuals with bipolar. The final phase is a pilot RCT testing the feasibility and acceptability of the chosen approach and also providing provisional information on effectiveness all of which will inform a future definitive trial.

Substance Use

This study will follow the same model as the Anxiety stream (see above) but for people with bipolar and comorbid substance/alcohol problems and will be informed by pilot work already conducted by our team.

Suicidality and Self Harm

This study will look at factors associated with suicide and severe self harm in bipolar disorder using both the Manchester University National Confidential database and associated data sources in the first instance.

Advance Directive Evaluation

The final element is designed to evaluate the extent to which the mental capacity act is impacting on the treatment experiences of individuals with bipolar disorder. This will include surveys of court records and Responsible Medical Officers to indicate application of advance directives as well as interviews with individuals with a bipolar diagnosis to study whether advance directives are used in relation to admission and whether this is more or less likely in individuals in receipt of the psychoeducation intervention.

Recovery

The Recovery project involves the development and evaluation of a recovery-focussed psychosocial intervention for individuals with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. For more information on the Recovery project, visit the Recovery page.

Relatives Education and Coping Toolkit (REACT)

This project is funded by the National Institute of Health Research, and is developing and evaluating a supported self-management intervention for caregivers of individuals who have experienced psychosis. More information on the REACT project can be found here.

Involving Relatives in the Healthcare Team

Funded by the Violet and Milo Cripps Charitable Trust in memory of Lord Milo Douglas who had bipolar disorder and committed suicide in 2009, aged 34, this study aims to enhance our understanding of the inter- and intrapersonal barriers and facilitators to involving relatives in mental healthcare, and the impact that communication in mental healthcare settings may have on the course of BD and the family's overall wellbeing. For more information, click here

Living With Bipolar

This project is funded by Merseycare NHS Trust, and involves the development and evaluation of the feasibility of a web-based psychosocial intervention for individuals with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. For more information, see our Living With Bipolar webpage.

Personality and the Student Experience

This project is an analogue study exploring the associations between personality style and academic achievement in undergraduate students, and what factors are specifically related to positive and negative outcomes for these students.

For more information, see Personality and the Student Experience.

Functioning in Bipolar Disorder

This qualitative project is an investigation of factors helpful to functioning in bipolar disorder.

For more information, please click here.

PhD Student Projects

For more information, please see PhD Student Projects.