Abstract
Open Dialogue (OD) is an integrated approach to mental health care, which has demonstrated promising outcomes in the treatment of first-episode psychosis (FEP) in Finnish Western Lapland region. However, little is known how treatment under OD is retrospectively experienced by the service users themselves. To address this, twenty participants from the original Western Lapland research cohort diagnosed with psychosis (F20–F29) were asked about their treatment of FEP, initiated under OD 10–23 years previously. Thematic analysis was used to explore how the treatment was experienced. Most participants viewed network treatment meetings as an important part of their treatment, as they enabled interactions with other people and the chance to go through difficult experiences. A minority of the participants had mixed experiences regarding family involvement and immediate home visits. OD may have the potential to promote therapeutic relationships, but replications from other catchment areas are needed.
Highlights
As mental health research and practice moves beyond a focus on group-level symptom-reduction models, an increasing emphasis has been placed on service users’ personal experiences of recovery and on other existential values (e.g. Frost et al, 2017; van Os et al, 2019)
This study aimed to address this lack of knowledge by asking 20 participants from the Western Lapland research cohort about their experiences of first-episode psychosis (FEP) treatment, initiated under Open Dialogue (OD)-based services 10–23 years previously
On the basis of the analyses we identified nine subthemes. These were further organized into three main domains according to their thematic content: (1) the importance of the relationships in the context of mental health care, (2) ambivalence related to the immediate response and teamwork, (3) ambivalence related to the hospitalization and medication
Summary
As mental health research and practice moves beyond a focus on group-level symptom-reduction models, an increasing emphasis has been placed on service users’ personal experiences of recovery and on other existential values (e.g. Frost et al, 2017; van Os et al, 2019). As mental health research and practice moves beyond a focus on group-level symptom-reduction models, an increasing emphasis has been placed on service users’ personal experiences of recovery and on other existential values Open Dialogue (OD) is one example of an approach whose primary goal encompasses service-user involvement in shared decisions and meaning-making processes. In OD, joint network treatment meetings take place in response to acute psychological crises (Seikkula et al, 2011). These meetings are often organized at the patient’s home or in another safe environment of the patient’s choice. The aim is to immediately gather all relevant people together to create a shared understanding of each situation within reciprocal dialogues. Within the meetings every perspective is accepted unconditionally and all interpretations and treatment decisions are made together
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