MI (Brief Motivational Intervention to Improve medication Adherence among Adolescents with

Bipolar Disorder)

Principal Investigator: Tina Goldstein, PhD

Co-Investigators: Antoine Douaihy MD, Boris Birmaher MD, Rasim Diler MD, Dara Sakolsky MD,

Danella Hafeman MD, PhD

The MI study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

This study is no longer recruiting.

There has been substantial progress in recent years in identifying safe and effective medications for youth with psychiatric disturbance. However, adherence to prescribed medication regimens among psychiatric populations is notoriously low, and adolescents rank among the least adherent of all patient populations. Given that the consequences of poor medication adherence among youth with chronic mental illness are far-reaching, there is a desperate need for interventions targeting medication adherence in this population.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based approach focused on enhancing motivation for change. This model holds great promise for improving medication adherence in adolescents with psychiatric disorders because it is developmentally sensitive, acceptable to patients and providers, and readily disseminable across clinical settings. Research demonstrates that brief motivational interventions (BMIs) utilizing a MI approach result in improved treatment adherence among youth with a variety of chronic medical conditions. Although widely applied for adolescent substance use behaviors, BMIs had not been examined for improving medication adherence in youth with severe psychiatric disorders. The purpose of the MI study was to conduct study factors associated with poor medication adherence in this population and then develop and examine the feasibility of a BMI to improve medication adherence for adolescents initiating treatment at the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Spectrum (CABS) Services specialty clinic at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. Data collection for the MI study was completed in October 2015, and data analyses are currently underway.