Developing New Impact Measures for Open Dialogue Informed Early Intervention: A Delphi Process Project

Poster C41, Wednesday, October%2010, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom

Nev Jones1, Sandy Smith2; 1University of South Florida, 2Counseling Service of Addison County

Purpose: As the number of Open Dialogue (OD) adaptations and implementation projects continue to grow, it is important that researchers identify or develop measures with the sensitivity to capture client and family impacts expected in the context of OD. To date, most published research has utilized otherwise conventional, standardized measures. To address this gap and enable high quality evaluation efforts, we developed and piloted two novel impact measures. Methods: An online Delphi Process approach was used to develop OD impact measures for both families and clients. 15 experienced US-based practitioners formed the initial Delphi Process group and the measures were subsequently refined with additional stakeholder input and then piloted to assess psychometric properties and validity/reliability. Findings: Delphi Process participants underscored key impact areas, such as 'deepened appreciation for multiple explanatory frameworks' and 'greater tolerance of diverging client-family views', that substantively diverge from items and domains found in extant outcome measures. Pilot testing affirms basic convergent/divergent validity and reliability. Conclusion: Conventional outcome measures may be ill-suited to capture the range and type of impacts that experienced OD providers expect or have observed; future large scale testing of the novel measures developed for this project may help address the need for more sensitive and appropriate metrics.

Topic Area: Psychosocial Interventions

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