Abstract
The Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial factors in bipolar disorder (CREST.BD) is a multidisciplinary network dedicated to advancing science and practice around psychosocial issues associated with bipolar disorder (BD), improving the care and wellness of people living with bipolar disorder, and strengthening services and supports for these individuals. CREST.BD specializes in community-based participatory research, in which research is conducted as a partnership between researchers and community members. This article describes the evolution of the CREST.BD network and CREST.BD’s commitment to community-based participatory research in bipolar disorder research. Examples of CREST.BD projects using community-based participatory research to study stigma, quality of life, psychosocial interventions, and creativity in bipolar disorder are highlighted, and opportunities and challenges of engaging in community-based participatory research in bipolar disorder specifically and the mental health field more broadly are discussed. This article demonstrates how CBPR can be used to enhance the relevance of research practices and products through community engagement, and how community-based participatory research can enrich knowledge exchange and mobilization.Â
Highlights
AbstrAct The Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial factors in bipolar disorder (CREST.BD) is a multidisciplinary network dedicated to advancing science and practice around psychosocial issues associated with bipolar disorder (BD), improving the care and wellness of people living with bipolar disorder, and strengthening services and supports for these individuals
Notwithstanding the importance of this work, living well with bipolar disorder requires more than pharmacology; psychosocial factors and interventions can have a powerful impact on how the condition manifests
Research on psychosocial interventions for bipolar disorder is expanding rapidly (Geddes and Miklowitz, 2013), significant gaps remain in understanding the influence of psychosocial factors that do not fit a traditional biomedical model on outcomes for Graphic facilitation in action at a CREST.BD’s people with bipolar disorder
Summary
AbstrAct The Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial factors in bipolar disorder (CREST.BD) is a multidisciplinary network dedicated to advancing science and practice around psychosocial issues associated with bipolar disorder (BD), improving the care and wellness of people living with bipolar disorder, and strengthening services and supports for these individuals. Community encompasses patients or “users” of mental health services, people who are not receiving medical care but have lived experience of the disorder, and people within the social support network of the affected individual, including family members, caregivers, significant others, and healthcare providers.
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