Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Sep 6:15:1428689.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1428689. eCollection 2024.

Evaluating Open Dialogue in Italian mental health services: evidence from a multisite prospective cohort study

Raffaella Pocobello  1 , Francesca Camilli  1 , Pina Ridente  2 , Giuseppa Caloro  3 , Maria Giuseppe Balice  4 , Giuseppe Tibaldi  3 , Marcello Macario  5 , Marco d'Alema  6 , Elisa Gulino  7 , Tarek El Sehity  1   8
Affiliations

Evaluating Open Dialogue in Italian mental health services: evidence from a multisite prospective cohort study

Raffaella Pocobello et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Objective: This longitudinal study aimed to quantitatively document and evaluate the implementation and outcomes of the Open Dialogue (OD) approach within Italian Mental Health Departments (MHDs), focusing on the ratings of OD-network meetings by patients and their families and assessing the clinical outcomes over a span of 12 months.

Results: Over the course of the study, 58 patients participated in 517 OD-network meetings, demonstrating a high level of satisfaction with the care received, as evidenced by the Session Rating Scale (SRS) and Outcome Rating Scale (ORS). Clinically, significant improvements were observed in the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (CORE-OM), and the Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS), indicating enhanced psychological and social functioning. The SRS scores showed that satisfaction with the meetings increased over time, while the ORS indicated that both patients and their social networks perceived gradual improvements throughout the therapy.

Conclusion: The OD approach within Italian MHDs was successfully implemented and well-received by patients and their social networks, yielding significant clinical improvements. These findings suggest the feasibility and effectiveness of integrating the OD model into the Italian public mental health system, supporting its potential for broader application in diverse healthcare settings. The study highlights the importance of continuous engagement and evaluation to maintain high standards of practice and suggests that OD can be a valuable addition to existing mental health care practices, promoting recovery through inclusive, dialogue-based interventions.

Keywords: Open Dialogue; clinical outcomes; mental health; patient satisfaction; social networks; treatment outcomes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age structure and gender of OD-network meeting participants based on their role as social network members and patients.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects plot of SRS and the order of OD-network meetings during the OD-therapy.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effects plot of ORS and the order of OD-network meetings during the OD-therapy.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effects plots of GAF.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effect plots of CORE-OM.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect plots of LSNS-6.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aas I. M. (2010). Global assessment of functioning (GAF): properties and frontier of current knowledge. Ann. Gen. Psychiatry 9:20. doi: 10.1186/1744-859X-9-20, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andersen T. (1991). The reflecting team: Dialogues and dialogues about the dialogues. New York: W.W. Norton.
    1. Bakhtin M. M. (1984). Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
    1. Bergström T., Seikkula J., Alakare B., Mäki P., Köngäs-Saviaro P., Taskila J. J., et al. . (2018). The 10-year treatment outcome of open dialogue-based psychiatric services for adolescents: a nationwide longitudinal register-based study. Early intervention in psychiatry. 16, 1368–1375. doi: 10.1111/eip.13286 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bergström T., Seikkula J., Holma J., Köngäs-Saviaro P., Taskila J. J., Alakare B. (2022). Retrospective experiences of first-episode psychosis treatment under open dialogue-based services: a qualitative study. Community Ment. Health J. 58, 887–894. doi: 10.1007/s10597-021-00895-6, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources