Scoping review of intervention services dedicated to early stages of bipolar disorder

Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to understand the breadth and scale of early intervention services for the first stages of bipolar disorder, and the evidence gathered to date regarding the key ingredients of these services. Such an overview is needed to inform a broader framework for early intervention in this neglected area. Introduction: BD is a complex and chronic psychiatric condition that usually begins in adolescence and continues into adulthood. Since the earliest stages of the illness are characterized by pluripotentiality and heterotypic course (involving transdiagnostic shifts), BD can be particularly challenging to detect. In order to advance early identification, intervention, and management regarding the symptomatic and functional impact of the disorder, we propose a scoping review to provide a complete picture of current early intervention services in order to extract their core elements and conceptualize a practical model of care. Inclusion criteria: We will include studies that describe activities and services providing early identification, assessment, and intervention for early stages (stage 1b and 2) of bipolar disorder. Methods: Electronic bibliographic databases including MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), and CINAHL (EBSCO) will be accessed. The search will be conducted in English and French from any publication year using the Covidence platform. The titles and abstracts of all retrieved articles will be independently screened by two researchers according to the inclusion/exclusion criteria including title/abstract and full-text screening. A data extraction spreadsheet will be piloted and revised prior to completing the process. We will use a narrative synthesis approach by grouping findings according to the stages of the disorder.