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Dialog

DIALOG+ is a simple intervention to assess life and treatment satisfaction of patients and address concerns and need for help in the communication between patient and clinician in community mental health care. 

DIALOG and DIALOG+ were developed at the Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry (WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Service Development), which is attached to Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL), and supported by East London NHS Foundation Trust .

You can find here scientific publications about DIALOG and DIALOG+. The research was led by Professor Stefan Priebe and supported by a collaboration with the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at QMUL.

Address

Newham Centre for Mental Health
Glenn Road
London
E13 8SP
United Kingdom

Opening hours
9am-5pm
Telephone number
020 7540 4210

DIALOG+ is a therapeutic intervention that improves the communication between a health professional and a patient and, through that, outcomes of mental health care. 

DIALOG+ is based on quality of life research, concepts of patient centred communication, developments in information technology and components of solution focused therapy. 

In DIALOG+, patients rate – in the meeting with their clinicians – their satisfaction with eight life domains and three treatment aspects as well as their wishes for additional help in each area.

Based on the ratings and comparisons with previous ratings, patients decide which concerns they want to discuss in the given meeting. Each concern will then be addressed in a four step approach:

  1. understanding the problem and emphasising ways of successful coping;
  2. identifying the best case scenario and the smallest step forward that would make a noticeable difference;
  3. exploring options for what the patient, the clinician and others can do to improve the patient’s situation; and
  4. agreeing on actions, which will then be reviewed at the next meeting 

You can find here the manual for the DIALOG+ and ways to access the software as an App for i-Pads and Android platforms. There is also a web based training module. 

Using DIALOG+ has been shown to improve outcomes in community mental health care of patients with psychosis.

You can find here the manual for the DIALOG+ and ways to access the software as an App for i-Pads and Android platforms. There is also a web based training module. 

We have developed an e-learning module for clinicians to learn how to deliver DIALOG+ as part of routine clinical practice. This removes the need to be trained in person.

The training covers the technical operation of the supporting technology (iPad) and the solution-focused approach to responding to patients’ ratings of satisfaction and requests for more help. It is free for all NHS Trusts and takes one hour to an hour and a half to complete. 

The training is optimised for Oracle Learning Management; however, it is SCORM compliant, meaning that it can be shared across different systems.

If you wish to access the DIALOG+ e-learning module, please check whether it is available on the e-learning portfolio in your Trust. If it is not available, please have a member of your e-learning or IT team contact Carolanne Ellis (carolanne.ellis@.nhs.uk) and we will facilitate access.

Download Dialog Manual 

The DIALOG+ intervention is administered via supporting technology – usually a tablet computer, although it can also be used on some smart phones. The apps supporting DIALOG+ are available to download for free. 

 Search for 'DIALOG' in the App Store or Google Play Store, or download directly by following the links below.

 N.B. The DIALOG app supports different versions of the intervention. For DIALOG+, select this option in the app's settings, as described below.

For iPad, please use the following link. Please note that this app is not available on iPhone.

After downloading the app, you should customise it for DIALOG+. To do this, select Settings on your home screen. Once in Settings, scroll down and choose DIALOG from the list of apps on the left.

For Android, please use the following link. This app will work on any Android phone or tablet.