Functioning in bipolar disorders a multi-informant approach

Resumen

Preface The present work was conducted with a double finality. On the one hand, the objective was to describe functioning in individuals with Bipolar Disorder (BD) according to different perspectives and on the other hand to use these findings to create a tool that will help assessment and data collection with such patients in a universal way and allow the systematization of the information using a comprehensive and up-to-dated classification of health, disability and functioning. For this reason, and through this document, emphasis is been placed in contributing to the answer of questions such as: what are the most affected areas in individuals with bipolar disorders according to health professionals worldwide? Where do diagnosed individuals with BD find their biggest difficulties to be? What are researchers focusing on regarding this health condition? Secondly, effort was made to use the findings to create, with the collaborations of experts from different world regions, the first version of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) (World Health Organization, 2001) Core Sets for Bipolar Disorders. If this Core Set is implemented in clinical or research settings, then research has fulfilled its purpose of contributing to the daily practice and serve the community. This document is structured in the typical sections: introduction and framework, objectives and hypotheses, methods, results and discussion, and is divided in four different studies: a) a systematic review of the literature, b) a qualitative study using individual interviews, c) an expert survey and finally d) a report on PhD thesisFunctioning in Bipolar Disorders: A multi-informant approach 14 Carolina Carvalho de Ávila an international consensus conference where the first version of ICF Core Sets for BD was established. To meet the requirements for an European Mention in the PhD diploma the present thesis was be written in two european languages, one of them being Spanish (the official language of the University) and the other one English. Concretely, an abstract is provided in Spanish and the Discussion Section is also written entirely in Spanish, while the remaining text is written in English.