Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1432327

Becoming an Open Dialogue Practitioner: a qualitative study of practitioners' training experiences and transitioning to practice

Provisionally accepted
Eleftherios Anestis Eleftherios Anestis 1Tim Weaver Tim Weaver 1*Claire Melia Claire Melia 2Katherine Clarke Katherine Clarke 3Steve Pilling Steve Pilling 3
  • 1 Department of Mental Health and Social Work, Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom
  • 2 Government Social Research, UK Civil Service, London, United Kingdom
  • 3 Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: In the context of transforming mental healthcare towards more personalised and recovery-oriented models, Open Dialogue has attracted significant international interest. Open Dialogue proposes a way of organizing services and delivering care that supports an immediate response to crisis, relational continuity of care, a social network approach and the empowerment of networks through shared decision-making and a flattened hierarchy. The ODDESSI trial currently being conducted in the UK is assessing the model's clinical and cost-effectiveness. Practitioners who delivered the approach within the trial undertook a one-year Open Dialogue foundation training program, however little is known about their training experiences. This study aimed to explore practitioners' experiences of receiving the training and transitioning to dialogic practice. Methods: Individual, joint and focus group interviews with 32 Open Dialogue practitioners were conducted. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the transcripts and transformational learning theory informed the interpretation of the findings.Results: Two themes further divided in subthemes were generated from the data: 1) experiences and impact of formal training and 2) becoming an Open Dialogue practitioner as an ongoing learning process beyond formal training: barriers and facilitators.Discussion: The one-year Open Dialogue foundation training was a transformative experience for participants due to its emphasis on self-work and its impact on a personal level. Practitioners felt adequately prepared by their training for dialogic practice, yet becoming an OD practitioner was seen as a continual process extending beyond formal training, necessitating ongoing engagement with the approach and organisational support. However, the commitment of participants to deliver optimal dialogic care was occasionally impeded by organisational constraints, resource limitations, and often having to concurrently deliver conventional care alongside Open Dialogue.

    Keywords: open dialogue, Mental Health, open dialogue training, staff perspectives, transformational learning

    Received: 13 May 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Anestis, Weaver, Melia, Clarke and Pilling. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tim Weaver, Department of Mental Health and Social Work, Middlesex University, London, NW4 4BT, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.