Bipolar Scales Research Articles

Ideological and political education combined with psychological care on patients with bipolar disorder

BackgroundIn today’s society with enormous work and study pressures, people’s mental health issues are increasingly receiving attention. Bipolar disorder is one of the serious mental illnesses that has a significant impact on patients’ lives and mental health. This study aims to explore the impact of ideological and political education combined with psychological care on patients with bipolar disorder.Subjects and MethodsThe study selected 200 patients with bipolar disorder as the experimental subjects and randomly divided them into an experimental group and a control group, with 100 patients in each group. The experimental group received treatment with ideological and political education combined with psychological care, while the control group received traditional psychological intervention treatment for a duration of 6 months. After completion, the patient’s symptoms were evaluated using the Bipolar Disorder Control Scale and the results were statistically analyzed using SPSS23.0 software.ResultsThe research results showed that patients in the experimental group showed significant improvements in emotional control and the attitudes toward work and life, with an overall decrease of 20% in depression and arrogance levels.ConclusionsThe research results indicate that combining ideological and political education with psychological care is an effective comprehensive intervention method that can improve the overall rehabilitation level of patients with bipolar disorder, and is worth promoting and applying in clinical practice.

A triangulation for pointed order polytopes

In this paper we propose a way to triangulate a pointed order polytope. Pointed order polytopes are a generalization of order polytopes that include some important groups of polytopes appearing when bipolar scales arise in Decision Making or Game Theory, as the set of bi-capacities or the set of normalized bi-games, even for cases with restricted cooperation. Triangulating polytopes is an important and difficult problem that allows an elegant way to generate uniform random points in the polytope. For order polytopes, there exists a nice result that allows a way to triangulate this family of polytopes based on generating linear extensions. In this paper we prove a similar result for pointed order polytopes. The results in this paper allow to derive a procedure to generate random points inside a pointed order polytope that depends only on the structure of the subjacent poset, a problem that usually is simpler to tackle. In particular, this could be applied to generate bi-capacities or bi-capacities belonging to some subfamilies (e.g. k-symmetric, k-interactive, ...) in a random way.

Purely positive or discriminatorily positive? The development of two-factor attitudes toward lesbians and gay men scales.

Unidimensional bipolar scales based on prejudice against homosexuality neglect the effect of preference for heterosexuality on attitudes toward homosexuality. Additionally, the term "homosexuality" used in these scales may compromise their validity. The current study uses person-centered and variable-centered approaches to examine the structure and classes of attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. In Study 1, we developed the Two-factor Attitudes toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scales, which have acceptable reliability and validity. The results obtained through variable-centered approaches suggested that a model comprising two factors (prejudice against homosexuality and preference for heterosexuality) was ideal. In Study 2, we explored the classes of attitudes toward lesbians and gay men through latent class analysis. The results supported a model containing three classes (purely positive, discriminatorily positive, and negative). This study validates a two-factor structure of attitudes toward lesbians and gay men and distinguishes between purely positive and discriminatorily positive attitudes, providing an important reference for future research and interventions to promote public attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.

The novel uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist esmethadone (REL-1017) has no meaningful abuse potential in recreational drug users

Esmethadone (REL-1017) is the opioid-inactive dextro-isomer of methadone and a low-affinity, low-potency uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist. In a Phase 2, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, esmethadone showed rapid, robust, and sustained antidepressant effects. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the abuse potential of esmethadone. Each study utilized a randomized, double-blind, active-, and placebo-controlled crossover design to assess esmethadone compared with oxycodone (Oxycodone Study) or ketamine (Ketamine Study) in healthy recreational drug users. Esmethadone 25 mg (proposed therapeutic daily dose), 75 mg (loading dose), and 150 mg (Maximum Tolerated Dose) were evaluated in each study. Positive controls were oral oxycodone 40 mg and intravenous ketamine 0.5 mg/kg infused over 40 min. The Ketamine study included oral dextromethorphan 300 mg as an exploratory comparator. The primary endpoint was maximum effect (Emax) for Drug Liking, assessed using a bipolar 100-point visual analog scale (VAS). A total of 47 and 51 participants completed the Oxycodone Study and the Ketamine Study, respectively (Completer Population). In both studies, esmethadone doses ranging from therapeutic (25 mg) to 6 times therapeutic (150 mg) had a meaningful and statistically significantly (p < 0.001) lower Drug Liking VAS Emax compared with the positive control. Results were consistent for all secondary endpoints in both studies. In both studies, all doses of esmethadone were statistically equivalent to placebo on Drug Liking VAS Emax (p < 0.05). In the Ketamine Study, Drug Liking VAS Emax scores for esmethadone at all tested doses were significantly lower vs. dextromethorphan (p < 0.05) (exploratory endpoint). These studies indicate no meaningful abuse potential for esmethadone at all tested doses.

Saccadic eye movement in individuals with ultra high‐risk psychosis and bipolar disorder

AbstractBackgroundThe purpose of the study is to examine saccadic eye movements, and the relationship with motor functions based on the cerebellar connection among individuals with ultra‐high‐risk of psychosis and bipolar disorder (UHR‐P, UHR‐BD) and healthy controls (HC).MethodThe study included 20 UHR‐P (mean age 21.95±3.38), 20 UHR‐BD (mean age 21.45±4.27), and 19 HC (mean age 24.84±3.95). Participants had been selected from cases clinical‐high‐risk criteria in interviews made with The Structured Interview of Psychosis Risk Syndromes (SIPS) and Bipolar Prodrome Symptom Interview and Scale (BPSS). Correct and incorrect count, amplitude and latency of anti‐saccade were used to evaluate eye movements. Eye movement data were recorded from the right eye using an EyeLink 1000 Plus eye‐tracker. In addition, Brief Motor Scale (BMS) was used to evaluate motor functions.ResultThe number of correct saccade of anti‐saccade showed a significant difference between HC and UHR‐BD (p = 0.021). The Correct anti‐saccades were strongly correlated with motor function in UHR‐BD (r = ‐0.754, p&lt;0.000). There was a moderate positive correlation between incorrect responses of anti‐saccade and motor function in UHR‐BD. (r = 0.455, p = 0.044). Motor functions indicated statistically significant differences between HC and high‐risk groups (p = 0.002 and p&lt; 0.000). No significant relationship was found between anti‐saccade latency and amplitude and motor functions. (p&gt; 0.05).ConclusionWe indicated that patients with ultra‐high risk had saccadic inhibition and motor coordination‐sequencing problems. This may be related to the dysfunctions in the cerebellum. The results are preliminary data of an ongoing study.

Emotive Pragmatics of Popularisation Discourse: The Impact of Contextualisation on Reader’s Interest

The paper adheres to the pragmatic approach to emotion processes and focuses on emotion-evocative communication. Its goal is to investigate the impact of contextualisation techniques, which employed by popularisation discourse to induce readers' interest. The research is carried out in two ways, discourse-pragmatic and experimental. First, by adopting the sociopragmatic view of emotions and using methods of discourse analysis, the paper fleshes out a model of emotion-evocative communication, outlines contextualisation techniques, and introduces text materials. Second, by representing the experimental study, the paper assesses the interest-evoking effect of contextualisation. The experimental study involved 400 undergraduate students. We employed the scaling method (7-point bipolar scales) to measure participants' attitude to generalised and contextualised text passages. The data analysis applied the Wilcoxon test, the Kolmogorov – Smirnov test, Spearman's correlation coefficient, the linear regression, and the explanatory factor analysis. The comparing tests reveal that contextualisation promotes reader's interest in the popularisation text. The findings suggest that contextualisation techniques make the text content more relevant to the reader. Personal relevance – as a kind of mediator – causes interest responses. Beyond that, it was found that that reader's expectations about text strategies to presents knowledge construct interest-evocative communication. The findings demonstrate how communicative variables combine into the model of emotion-evocative communication.

Verbalization of Rating Scales Taking Account of Their Polarity

While numerical bipolar rating scales may evoke positivity bias, little is known about the corresponding bias in verbal bipolar rating scales. The choice of verbalization of the middle category may lead to response bias, particularly if it is not in line with the scale polarity. Unipolar and bipolar seven-category rating scales in which the verbalizations of the middle categories matched or did not match the implemented polarity were investigated in randomized experiments using a non-probabilistic online access panel in Germany. Bipolar rating scales exhibited higher positivity bias and acquiescence than unipolar rating scales. Reliability, validity, and equidistance tended to be violated if the verbalizations of the middle category did not match scale polarity. The results provide a rationale for rating scale verbalization.

ТОЛЕРАНТНОСТЬ ПО ОТНОШЕНИЮ К БЕЖЕНЦАМ У ШКОЛЬНИКОВ И СТУДЕНТОВ

This article is devoted to the study of tolerance of schoolchildren and students towards refugees. This specific social group is extremely vulnerable and in dire need of protection and a variety of assistance. This is especially relevant due to the growing number of refugees and internally displaced persons in the Russian Federation. Refugee adaptation is inextricably linked to the host community's level of tolerance. The specificity of the host country and the form in which the dominant culture influences visitors is a powerful factor which contributes to the successful adaptation of refugees. In this regard, it is extremely important to form a tolerant environment in which young schoolchildren and students – children of refugees, adapting to the new conditions of the host culture. The object of the study was schoolchildren and students living in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan. To study the tolerance of young people, as well as to study the social attitudes of schoolchildren and students towards refugees, the following methods were used: the questionnaire “Tolerance Index” (G.U. Soldatova, O.A. Kravtsova, O.E. Khukhlaev, L.A. Shaygerova); the “Attribution of Qualities” technique (D. Katz, K. Braley); author's questionnaire (including a bipolar quality scale and questions aimed at identifying socio-demographic characteristics). The average level of tolerance in schoolchildren and students was revealed, significant differences between the groups were not found. The data indicates that half of the students and schoolchildren believe that refugees should be helped no more than everyone else, since locals also have problems. The image of a refugee in modern youth was revealed. It is shown that negative qualities prevail in the image of a refugee: fear, aggressiveness, arrogance, suspicion, anxiety. Among the positive characteristics, the respondents note strength and resilience. Most of the respondents use emotions as a description of the qualities attributed to refugees, which may indicate the assumption that schoolchildren and students think that refugees often experience the following emotions: fear, fear, sadness, anger. On the one hand, it seems important to conduct further research aimed at studying the image of a refugee among modern youth. On the other hand, the presented data can be used in group and individual psychological work to form attitudes of tolerant consciousness towards refugees among young people.

Neutrosophic MABAC Method for Solutions of Ecotourism Centers (EC) in COVID-19

The Covid-19 epidemic has had devastating effects on the economy and generated many issues for enterprises worldwide. As a result, it is imperative that during periods of pandemic, options be made available to help impacted companies recover and enhance their operations. One industry that has encountered this issue and has had to overcome substantial obstacles is ecotourism centres. In the first part of this study, we offer several valuable and realistic action strategies for ecotourism centres. Tourism professionals, faculty members, executives, proprietors, and some staff from eco-tourism centres got together for brainstorming meetings to come up with implementation plans. The stated action plans are prioritised based on four factors. One MCDM approach, known as Multi-Attributive Border Approximation area Comparison (MABAC), uses distance and area-based computing algorithms to systematically represent a complicated choice. In this study, we suggest a bipolar neutrosophic MABAC that incorporates the three possible memberships truth, indeterminate, and false into a single set. Using a bipolar neutrosophic language scale, a panel of specialists was asked to rate the outcome values of requirements and options. The major output of the suggested approach is the distances of options from the Border Approximation Area of bipolar neutrosophic MABAC.

Сравнительный анализ представлений молодежи из различных регионов страны о российской, западной и восточной цивилизациях

The article presents the results of the empirical study that analyzes the views of the young people from different Russian regions about Russian, Western, and Oriental civilizations. The study involved 755 people in eight federal districts of the Russian Federation. The method of psychosemantic scaling, which included 33 bipolar scales, has been used. The study has revealed differences in the views of young Russians about their own country, and Western and Oriental civilizations. Their view of Russia is largely intracultural, and are significantly different from those of Western and Oriental civilizations. Young Russians single out Russia as a separate civilization. According to the psychological distance index. They consider both Western and Oriental civilizations as “alien” ones, not fully corresponding to spiritual values of Russian youth.

Validation of the Bipolar Prodrome Symptom Interview and Scale-Abbreviated Prospective (BPSS-AP) in a clinical sample and healthy controls

BackgroundAfter the existence of a bipolar disorder (BD) prodrome was established, the development of clinical rating instruments has become relevant that are sufficiently brief to be implemented in real-world clinical practice and that are designed to identify individuals at-risk for BD. This study aimed to validate a shorter version of the Bipolar Prodrome Symptom Interview and Scale (BPSS), the BPSS-Abbreviated Prospective (BPSS-AP), for use among clinical populations. MethodsAltogether, 104 adults, comprising individuals diagnosed with BD (n = 17, mania: n = 8, hypomania: n = 9), with major depressive disorder (MDD, n = 38, all currently depressed), and healthy controls (HCs, n = 49), underwent BPSS-AP interviews. The psychometric properties of the BPSS-AP were evaluated, including internal consistency, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and factor structure. ResultsThe median (IQR) age was 29 (23–38), 40 (23–55), and 25 (22–28) years, for the BD, MDD, and HC groups, respectively. The BPSS-AP showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.95). Convergent validity between the BPSS-AP and Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) was high (r > 0.7). The BPSS-AP discriminated patients with BD from those with MDD (P < .001) and from HCs (P < .001). LimitationsThe study design precludes assessment of the predictive validity of the BPSS-AP. ConclusionsThis study found that the BPSS-AP, a more concise and feasible version of the semi-structured interview for identifying individuals at risk of developing BD, has satisfactory psychometric properties. There is room for further validation and application of the BPSS-AP in clinical settings to evaluate its utility in research and clinical care.

A randomized pilot study of the prophylactic effect of ketamine on laboratory-induced stress in healthy adults

BackgroundStress exposure is a key risk factor for the development of major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. Enhancing stress resilience in at-risk populations could potentially protect against stress-induced disorders. The administration of ketamine one week prior to an acute stressor prevents the development of stress-induced depressive-like behavior in rodents. This study aimed to test if the prophylactic effect of ketamine against stress also applies to humans. MethodsWe conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study wherein 24 healthy subjects (n = 11 males) were randomized to receive either ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) or midazolam (0.045 mg/kg) intravenously one week prior to an acute stress [Trier Social Stress Test (TSST)]. The primary endpoint was the anxious-composed subscale of the Profile of Mood States Bipolar Scale (POMS-Bi) administered immediately after the TSST. Salivary and plasma cortisol and salivary alpha amylase were also measured at 15-min intervals for 60 min following the stressor, as proxies of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) and sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) axis activity, respectively. ResultsCompared to the midazolam group (n = 12), the ketamine group (n = 12) showed a moderate to large (Cohen's d = 0.7) reduction in levels of anxiety immediately following stress, although this was not significant (p = 0.06). There was no effect of group on change in salivary cortisol or salivary alpha amylase following stress. We conducted a secondary analysis excluding one participant who did not show an expected correlation between plasma and salivary cortisol (n = 23, ketamine n = 11). In this subgroup, we observed a significant reduction in the level of salivary alpha amylase in the ketamine group compared to midazolam (Cohen's d = 0.7, p = 0.03). No formal adjustment for multiple testing was made as this is a pilot study and all secondary analyses are considered hypothesis-generating. ConclusionsKetamine was associated with a numeric reduction in TSST-induced anxiety, equivalent to a medium-to-large effect size. However, this did not reach statistical significance . In a subset of subjects, ketamine appeared to blunt SAM reactivity following an acute stressor. Future studies with larger sample size are required to further investigate the pro-resilient effect of ketamine.

Recreational Thematic Dominants in News TV Discourse

Introduction. This study examines the recreational thematic diversity of recreation presented in the form of the thematic dominants list. The thematic dominants are capable of organizing news discourse around themselves and transmitting significant information. Recreation is becoming an integral feature of information discourse, a tool for managing moods and public opinion. That is why the relevance of the topic is determined by the need to study text-forming tools for the implementation of recreation in the discourse. Thematic dominants of recreation are actively involved in the structural organization of the news; implement a wide range of recreational functions. The study of their linguistic implementation rules determines the scientific novelty of the research. The key tasks of the research are to identify the repertoire of thematic dominants of recreation, their functional characteristics, the specifics of participation in the construction of the news text, as well as a description of the recreation scale.Methodology and sources. The study used traditional general scientific methods, such as description and classification of linguistic material, generalization and observation, target sampling, quantitative analysis, as well as linguistic methods: discursive, descriptiveanalytical, contextual, semantic text analysis. As the material of the research, 400 textsrepresentatives of informational TV discourse, various in thematic focus and genre representation, were selected.Results and discussion. The analysis of news discourse allows us to talk about the saturation of recreational topics that broadcast information aimed at providing conditions for rest, relaxation, distraction from everyday problems and entertainment of the addressee. The study reveals macrostructural components, which are most often filled with recreational thematic dominants. It is shown that thematic dominants are unevenly located on the bipolar scale of positive – negative recreation. The extreme, average and threshold degrees of recreation have been established, and the themes that define them have been described.Conclusion. Recreational thematic dominants are aimed at shifting the focus of describing reality for the implementation of recreational functions (the formation of mental effects – distraction, experience; entertainment, interesting leisure, etc.). Their explication represents a multi-layered semiotic system (external level (multimodal resources); internal (macro- and micro-level). Between the two extreme points of recreation there are texts with different levels of recreation, and in descending order the recreational function is combined with additional, non-creative ones.

Mainland Chinese Students’ Attitudes to Hong Kong English

This study investigates the overt and covert attitudes of China Mainland undergraduate students towards Hong Kong English (HKE) through questionnaires and verbal-guise technique (VGT). The questionnaire showed the participants’ negative attitude towards Hong Kong English, and the female participants showed a more inclusive attitude than the males. For VGT, participants rated two recordings of HKE speech on a bipolar semantic scale with 16 adjectives. The results showed that the male HKE speaker was evaluated more highly than the female speaker on both status and solidarity. The female and male participants were significantly different in their ratings of three status traits (confidence, hardworking and fluency), with female participants being stricter. The study suggests the aspects of language attitudes in which there are disparities need to be further explored using direct and indirect measures.

SMAA–Bicapacity–Choquet–Regret Model for Heterogeneous Linguistic MCDM With Interactive Criteria With Bipolar Scale and 2-Tuple Aspirations

Decision making could be an extremely complicated process. Especially, in situations in which the diversity of backgrounds and experience of decision makers (DMs) may require various forms to model their opinions. DMs’ rational choice even may be distorted by their judgements due to limitations of human cognitive competence. Generally, the interactions between criteria, the bipolar scale with negative values, and linguistic-valued aspirations on criteria are also needed to be addressed. In addition, several types of input information may be stochastic or uncertain, such as criteria evaluations, capacities, and preference coefficients. Our aim is to address all previous issues simultaneously by proposing a novel model that incorporates Choquet integral, bicapacity, regret theory, and stochastic multiobjective acceptability analysis (SMAA), i.e., SMAA–bicapacity–Choquet–regret for heterogeneous linguistic multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems with interactive criteria with bipolar scale and 2-tuple aspirations. The heterogeneous linguistic information can offer a highly flexible way to express DMs’ preference; a novel 2-tuple aspirations-based utility within regret can better reflect the subjective perceptions of DMs in MCDM problems with 2-tuple aspirations on criteria; bicapacity can weigh the criteria and their coalitions, and Choquet integral concerning bicapacity can aggregate interactive criteria with bipolar scale; and finally, an application to evaluate medical waste disposal technologies is given, and a comparative analysis is performed to verify the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed model.

Final-note expectancy and humor: an empirical investigation

BackgroundMelodic expectations were manipulated to investigate the nature of tonally incongruent melodic final notes that may elicit humor in listeners. To our knowledge, this is the first experiment aiming at studying humor elicitation in music with the use of empirical, quantitative methods. To this aim, we have based the experiment on the incongruency/resolution theory of humor and the violations of expectations in music. Our goal was to determine the amount of change, that is, the degree of incongruency required to elicit humor.MethodsWe composed two simple, 8-bar long melodies, and changed their final notes so that they could randomly finish on any semitone between an octave upwards and downwards with respect to the original, tonic final note. This resulted in 25 versions for both melodies, including the original final notes, for each semitone. Musician and non-musician participants rated each version of each melody on five 7-point bipolar scales according to goodness of fit, humor, beauty, playfulness, and pleasantness.Results and conclusionsOur results showed that even a single change of the final note can elicit humor. No strong connection was found between humor elicitation and the level of incongruency (i.e., the amount of violation of expectation). Instead, changes to the major-mode melody were more likely to be found humorous than those to the minor-mode melody, implying that a so-called playful context is necessary for humor elicitation as the major melody was labelled playful by the listeners. Furthermore, final notes below the original tonic end note were also found to be less humorous and less fitting to the melodic context than those above it.

The Alternative Representation of the Bipolar Sugeno Integral

In the context of decision support systems, bi-capacities were introduced as an extension of classical capacities. Many bipolar fuzzy integrals related to the bi-capacities have been presented in recent years. One of these integrals is the Sugeno integral concerning aggregation on bipolar scales. The paper aims to build an equivalent representation of the bipolar Sugeno integral. Therefore, we first employ in this paper the framework based on a ternary-criterion set for proposing an alternative formula of the bipolar Sugeno integral to be suitable for bipolar scales. Then, we discuss some basic properties and give an illustrative example of this representation. This representation is consistent as an extension of the representation concerning the classical capacities and aggregation on the Sugeno integral unipolar scales.

Effectiveness of MP3 Coding Depends on the Music Genre: Evaluation Using Semantic Differential Scales

MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3) is one of the most popular compression formats used for sound and especially for music. However, during the coding process, the MP3 algorithm negatively affects the spectral and dynamic characteristics of the audio file being compressed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect the MP3 coding format for different music genres and different bitrates via listening tests in which the original uncompressed files and the compressed files are compared. For this purpose, five different music genres were selected (rock, jazz, electronic, classical and solo instrument), and the files were compressed in three different bitrates (96 kbps, 160 kbps and 320 kbps). The semantic differential method was used, and ten bipolar scales were selected for the listening tests (e.g., better–worse, more distortion–less distortion, etc.). The following are the most important findings of this study: classical music was negatively affected the most among the genres due to the MP3 compression (lowest ratings in 8 out of 10 bipolar scales), the solo instrument was least affected among the genres (highest rating in 7 out of 10 bipolar scales), and for higher bit rates, the differences in ratings were small for all music genres. The findings of this study could be used to optimize and adapt the standard, depending on the music genre and the musical piece that needs to be encoded.

Exploring psychophysical measurement in landscape aesthetics: Validity, reliability and signal detection via single-versus opposing-construct rating scales, with or without zeros

Surveys eliciting qualitative judgments of environments might have an objective psychophysical basis. They can employ numeric, single-construct, integer rating scales or ratio scales between opposing negative and positive end-point constructs. Each stimulus can be measured by different ‘averaging’ methods across subjects' ratings. The impacts of these choices on data reliability and validity were investigated. Three different rating scales were presented to different sets of subjects who rated the same stimuli. Eighty photos of various forests and timber harvests were rated for (1) scenic beauty on a 1 to 10 scale, (2) ugliness or scenic beauty on a −5 to +5 scale, or (3) the same bipolar scale but without a central zero value. Ratings from each photo from one rating scale were averaged and ‘averaged’ again by the Scenic Beauty Estimate (SBE) signal detection algorithm. Distributions of the raw and averaged ratings were examined to explore validity by conformance with psychophysical theory. Ratings from the bipolar scale without a zero exhibited the most evidence of validity across a wider range, indicating that it best conformed with discrimination of photos' perceived beauty and ugliness along a shared, psychophysical gradient. Averaged ratings from the 1 to 10 scale produced the most reliable data, while its SBEs were slightly less reliable but with more stable errors. These ratings exhibited poor validity among low-beauty photos The bipolar rating scale that included a zero value was least reliable and valid, particularly across its ratio SBEs. All rating scales' average ratings or SBEs exhibited acceptable reliability.

Supporting Self-management and Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder With the PolarUs App (Alpha): Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.

BackgroundQuality of life (QoL) is increasingly being recognized as a key outcome of interventions for bipolar disorder (BD). Mobile phone apps can increase access to evidence-based self-management strategies and provide real-time support. However, although individuals with lived experiences desire support with monitoring and improving broader health domains, existing BD apps largely target mood symptoms only. Further, evidence from the broader mobile health (mHealth) literature has shown that the desires and goals of end users are not adequately considered during app development, and as a result, engagement with mental health apps is suboptimal. To capitalize on the potential of apps to optimize wellness in BD, there is a need for interventions developed in consultation with real-world users designed to support QoL self-monitoring and self-management.ObjectiveThis mixed methods pilot study was designed to evaluate the alpha version of the newly developed PolarUs app, developed to support QoL self-monitoring and self-management in people with BD. Co-designed using a community-based participatory research framework, the PolarUs app builds on the web-based adaptation of a BD-specific QoL self-assessment measure and integrates material from a web-based portal providing information on evidence-informed self-management strategies in BD. The primary objectives of this project were to evaluate PolarUs app feasibility (via behavioral use metrics), the impact of PolarUs (via the Brief Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder scale, our primary outcome measure), and explore engagement with the PolarUs app (via quantitative and qualitative methods).MethodsParticipants will be residents of North America (N=150), aged >18 years, with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision diagnosis of BD type 1, BD type 2, or BD not otherwise specified as assessed by structured diagnostic interview. An embedded mixed methods research design will be adopted; qualitative interviews with a purposefully selected subsample (approximately, n=30) of participants will be conducted to explore in more depth feasibility, impact, and engagement with the PolarUs app over the 12-week study period.ResultsAt the time of publication of this protocol, the development of the alpha version of the PolarUs app was complete. Participant enrollment has begun in June 2022. Data collection is expected to be completed by December 2022.ConclusionsBeyond contributing knowledge on the feasibility and impact of a novel app to support QoL and self-management in BD, this study will also provide new insights related to engagement with mHealth apps. Furthermore, it will function as a case study of successful co-design between people with BD, health care providers, and BD researchers, providing a template for the future use of community-based participatory research frameworks in mHealth intervention development. The results will be used to further refine the PolarUs app and inform the design of a larger clinical trial.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/36213