Population: Individuals (n = 80) diagnosed with BAD-II who are experiencing an acute depressive episode will be recruited from the Mood and Anxiety Clinic at Providence Care Hospital (PCH) in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Inclusion criteria include being between 18 and 55 years of age at the start of the study, a confirmed diagnosis of BAD-II according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5), a Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) score between 7 and 34, competence to consent and participate, the ability to speak and read English, and having consistent and reliable access to the internet. Exclusion criteria include experiencing a current acute hypomanic/manic episode, acute psychosis, severe alcohol or substance use disorder, and active suicidal and/or homicidal ideation. Additionally, if an individual is currently receiving or has received CBT in the past year they will be excluded from the study. To confirm eligibility, participants will undergo a complete assessment from a clinician where the diagnosis will be confirmed using the DSM-5 and a Mini-International National Interview (MINI) version 7.0.2. Eligible participants will be randomly allocated into either the e-CBT plus treatment as usual (TAU) (n = 40) or the control group (TAU exclusively) (n = 40). Participants in the control group will be offered the e-CBT program after the first 12 weeks of the study if they are interested.
Procedure: Upon completion of the initial assessment, if eligible for the study, participants from the e-CBT group will be enrolled in the e-CBT program. All e-CBT sessions will be administered through OPTT and will consist of approximately 30 slides per week. The content and format of each weekly online session will be designed to mirror in-person CBT for the treatment of BAD-II. Participants will complete the module and submit the assigned homework to their clinician through OPTT where the clinician will be able to provide personalized feedback. These pre-designed engaging and multimedia modules will be able to streamline the therapy process, helping care providers save time on repeating similar materials to all patients and focusing on delivering personalized feedback to each patient. The slides will highlight a different topic each week and include general information, an overview of skills, and homework that is to be completed within that week. All weekly sessions have an estimated completion time of 50 minutes. During the 12 weeks, both groups will continue with their TAU. To ensure the quality and consistency of care, care pathways will be fully assigned beforehand, and a clinician will be trained to follow the standard care pathways. Through the training, the clinician will learn the aim and content of each therapeutic session and will be provided with sample homework submissions and modules to better understand how to structure feedback.
