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A qualitative phenomenological design, guided by van Manen\u2019s approach, was employed to understand the lived experiences of 11 informal caregivers of adolescents with BD. Data were analyzed using van Manen\u2019s six-step framework. Five key themes emerged: navigating complexities, hidden struggles of caregiving, caregiver relationships, support networks, and stigma. Informal caregivers experienced struggles, stigma, and a lack of family support, compounded by insufficient psychoeducation about BD. However, the community and mental health workers were very supportive. Thus, there is a need to prioritize the provision of psychoeducation about BD among adolescents and their family members to help improve the family support and involvement in care.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pmen.0000351","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]],"date-time":"2025-07-01T17:28:29Z","timestamp":1751390909000},"page":"e0000351","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pmen.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Lived experiences of informal caregivers of adolescents with bipolar disorder at Masaka regional referral hospital"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"2","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-2208-1836","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Philip","family":"Amanyire","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jane Kasozi","family":"Namagga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Grace","family":"Nambozi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Samalie","family":"Nakanjako","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-3025-2619","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Abel","family":"Rubega","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Samuel","family":"Maling","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"pmen.0000351.ref001","first-page":"186","article-title":"Stress, emotions, and coping: The lived experiences of primary caregivers who raise adolescents with bipolar disorder","author":"KM Cuthrell","year":"2022","journal-title":"Asian Journal of Advances in Medical Science"},{"key":"pmen.0000351.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.books.9780890425787","volume-title":"Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition, text revision","author":"American Psychiatric Association","year":"2022"},{"issue":"4","key":"pmen.0000351.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"341","DOI":"10.1111\/bdi.13016","article-title":"Bipolar disorder: trimodal age-at-onset distribution","volume":"23","author":"S Bolton","year":"2021","journal-title":"Bipolar Disord"},{"issue":"9","key":"pmen.0000351.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"720","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.ajp.2018.18040461","article-title":"The Emergent Course of Bipolar Disorder: Observations Over Two Decades From the Canadian High-Risk Offspring Cohort","volume":"176","author":"A Duffy","year":"2019","journal-title":"Am J Psychiatry"},{"issue":"3","key":"pmen.0000351.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4088\/JCP.18r12180","article-title":"Updated Meta-Analysis of Epidemiologic Studies of Pediatric Bipolar Disorder","volume":"80","author":"A Van Meter","year":"2019","journal-title":"J Clin Psychiatry"},{"issue":"1","key":"pmen.0000351.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1136\/gpsych-2023-101255","article-title":"Global, regional and national burdens of bipolar disorders in adolescents and young adults: a trend analysis from 1990 to 2019","volume":"37","author":"Y Zhong","year":"2024","journal-title":"General Psychiatry"},{"key":"pmen.0000351.ref007","unstructured":"Birabwa-oketcho H, Psychiatrist C, Psychiatric BN. 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