Disability and Self-Management Practices of People with Bipolar Disorder: A Web-Based Survey

In a web-based survey asking adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder about illness management, we obtain frequency of self-reported usage and perceived helpfulness of 27 self-management strategies. We correlated the strategy use and perceived helpfulness with demographic and clinical characteristics, along with the Illness Intrusiveness Scale total score. Completed surveys were obtained from 1,024 individuals. Perceived helpfulness of 18 of 27 strategies was correlated negatively with illness intrusiveness at the P < 0.001 level. Given limitations of web-based surveys, our study underscores the substantial negative impact of bipolar disorder, along with the potential of the Internet to enhance the use of self-management strategies.