Technology-Enhanced Family-Focused Treatment for Adolescents at High Risk for Mood Disorders

The investigative group has shown in several randomized trials that family-focused therapy (FFT) for symptomatic youth at high-risk for bipolar disorder - consisting of psychoeducation and family communication and problem solving skills training - is an effective adjunct to pharmacotherapy in hastening symptomatic recovery. However, between 50%-60% of high-risk youth still have residual mood symptoms and functional impairment after 18 weeks of FFT. In prior studies, two constructs have emerged as predictors of lack of response to treatment: mood instability in the child and expressed emotion (EE) in parents (i.e., frequent critical comments or hostility). In adolescents (ages 12-18) with a parent with bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder, the investigators hypothesize that augmenting FFT with frequent and targeted interventions in the home setting through a Smartphone app (MyCoachConnect, or MCC) will (a) have a greater and more rapid impact than standard FFT on the targeted mechanisms of mood instability in adolescents and EE in parents, and (b) as a result, enhance symptom resolution and functioning in adolescents. To be eligible, adolescents must score high on parent-rated measures of mood instability, and have at least one parent who is high-EE by speech sample coding criteria. The MCC app will record weekly open speech samples from parents and children and daily and weekly mood ratings from adolescents. The app assessments will be fed back to the FFT clinician, who will use this information to "push" recommendations for mood regulation, communication, and problem-solving strategies (linked to the FFT modules) for parents and youth. In year 1, the investigators will conduct an open trial (n=25) to determine (a) the feasibility and acceptability of FFT with mobile coaching (FFT-MCC), as given by clinicians in community settings, and (b) associations between online/speech feature proxies of the targets (mood instability and EE as measured weekly by MCC) and standard measures of the targets. In years 2 and 3 the investigators will conduct a 60-case randomized clinical trial in which families are assigned to FFT with MCC skills coaching or FFT with MCC assessments only, with no skills coaching. The primary hypotheses are that FFT-MCC will be acceptable to parents, adolescents and clinicians, and more effective than FFT without MCC coaching in engaging the targets of mood instability and EE and promoting improvements in adolescents' mood symptoms and quality of life over 27 weeks. The study will facilitate the translation of a technological augmentation to an evidence-based family intervention, with the goal of increasing treatment access among families with mood disorders.