What are DIALOG and DIALOG+?
DIALOG is a scale of 11 questions. People rate their satisfaction with eight life domains and three treatment aspects on a 7-point scale. DIALOG provides a score for subjective quality of life and a score for treatment satisfaction. The scale is part of the DIALOG+ intervention but can also be used on its own.
DIALOG+ is a full therapeutic intervention. It incorporates the DIALOG scale but goes far beyond administering a scale.
DIALOG + is the first approach that has been specifically developed to make routine patient-clinician meetings therapeutically effective. It is based on quality-of-life research, concepts of patient-centred communication, IT developments, and components of solution-focused therapy, and is supported by an App. Research studies in different mental health services and multiple countries have shown that using DIALOG+ can improve patients’ quality of life.
Development
Both DIALOG and DIALOG+ were developed at the Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry (WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Service Development), which is part of Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and attached to East London NHS Foundation Trust. The research was led by Professor Stefan Priebe and supported by funding from the European Commission and the National Institute for Health Research in the United Kingdom.
The video below is a visual guide on how DIALOG and DIALOG+ can help support recovery from a mental health illness, from a service user perspective: