Staff Experiences of Peer-Supported Open Dialogue Network Meetings
Poster C51, Wednesday, October%2010, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom
Abigail Moss1, Rachel Tribe1, Steve Pilling1, Steven Livingstone2, Joshua Stott1; 1Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL., 2Barnet, Enfield and Haringey NHS Mental Health Trust.
Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate staff experiences of Peer-Supported Open Dialogue (POD) informed Network Meetings (NM) in a Community Psychosis Service. It was part of a two-part evaluation which assessed the views of both staff and service users. POD is adapted from Open Dialogue, which is both a psychotherapeutic intervention and a way of organising services. Method: Eleven staff members from different professional backgrounds enrolled on a POD training programme took part in a semi-structured interview designed to elicit qualitative data regarding their experiences of co-facilitating NMs. Interviews were then transcribed by two researchers and the six-phase approach to thematic analysis outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006) was followed. Results: Several themes emerged from the data. Staff highly valued the therapeutic approach, and there was a sense that co-facilitating NMs required a new way of connecting with service users. POD allowed clinicians to behave in ways that they felt were more closely aligned to their professional values than current structures and ways of operating allowed. A variety of organisational issues were raised which were seen to limit the potential of POD within the service. Discussion: Participants said that POD and NMs contained many useful elements but that these did not necessarily match the resources available within the Community Psychosis Service. There is value in examining how the culture of services can be shaped to allow clinicians to act more consistently in line with their professional values. Recommendations are made to inform further implementation and development of Open Dialogue.
Topic Area: Psychosocial Interventions