A Brief Video-Based Intervention to Improve Digital Health Literacy for Individuals With Bipolar Disorder:...

Smartphone apps can improve access to bipolar disorder (BD) care by delivering elements of effective psychological interventions, thereby promoting quality of life and reducing relapse risk and mood instability in BD. While many people with BD are interested in using publicly available mental health smartphone apps, without guidance, they risk selecting apps that are unsafe or ineffective.

This study aimed to co-design a brief educational video on identifying appropriate mental health apps and to evaluate the acceptability and impact of this video among individuals with BD.

Individuals with lived experience of BD, including 2 peer researchers and members of 2 advisory groups (n=4 and n=7), were consulted to develop a video with information on selecting safe, effective, and engaging mental health apps for BD. Video acceptability and impact on self-reported digital health literacy (including both general eHealth literacy and more specific mobile health literacy) were evaluated via a web-based survey, including both a validated measure and complementary items developed by the research team.

In total, 42 individuals with BD completed the evaluation survey (n=29, 69% women, mean age 38.6, SD 12.0 years). Digital health literacy, measured using the self-report eHealth Literacy Scale, significantly improved after viewing the video (pre: mean 32.40, SD 4.87 and post: mean 33.57, SD 4.67; t₄₁=-3.236; P=.002; d=-0.50). Feedback supported the acceptability of the video content and format. Self-report items developed by the study team to assess mobile health literacy showed that individuals felt better able to determine which apps would protect their data (P=.004) and to ask their health care provider for support in choosing apps (P<.001) after watching the video.

This study found preliminary evidence that an educational video can help people with BD improve their ability to identify, apply, and evaluate the quality of digital health resources. The video and a supplementary web-based educational module are freely available for implementation in health care settings and have the potential to be a cost-effective and accessible resource for clinicians to support patients with BD to navigate the public app marketplace in support of their self-management goals.