What is DIALOG+? 

DIALOG is a short questionnaire designed to measure how you rate your quality of life and your experience of the care you receive.   

The DIALOG questionnaire has 11 questions: the first eight questions cover different areas of your life, and the last three ask about your treatment. You don’t need to write out long responses or give too much detail. 

DIALOG is a personal measure of how you feel and what matters to you. There are no wrong answers so just try to be as honest as you can.  

Watch this video to see how DIALOG+ works

The DIALOG questionnaire is an outcome measure which allows you to rate your own quality of life.  

Discussing the answers with your mental health team helps them understand what's important to you so that you can work together to develop a plan based on the things that really matter to you.

Repeating the DIALOG questionnaire at different times can help you and your team understand how you are feeling over time. There are different reasons for completing DIALOG again during your care, for example:

At the beginning of your care 

Completing a DIALOG at the start of your care helps the team to know you and what matters to you better. It can be a good way of knowing where you are starting from. 

During your care 

There are different reasons for completing DIALOG again during your care, for example: 

  • If you start or finish an intervention (such as psychology): your care team may suggest completing DIALOG to understand how you are feeling about your quality of life. This might help look at things that have changed during the treatment. 
  • If you have big life changes: if your situation changes during your care (such as getting a new job) it can be helpful to complete DIALOG to make sure that your care is focussed on the things that are most important to you.  
  • If you haven’t completed a DIALOG for a while: we recommend that you complete DIALOG at least every 6 months so that you can see if there are any changes and to ensure that we are still working on the things that are important to you. 
  • If you are transferring to a new team: If your care is moving to a new team it is helpful for you to discuss the DIALOG questions to ensure that the new team has the best information about what is important to you.  
  • At the end of your care with the Trust: At the end of your care it is useful to complete a DIALOG to understand any differences from the start of your care. It helps the staff understand what has worked well and how they can improve. 

Before the appointment 

The mental health team may give you information about DIALOG before your appointment so that you can have a think about the different areas of your life. 

In the future, they may send you a copy of the questionnaire electronically, or ask you complete it in the waiting room, ahead of your appointment.  

During the appointment 

The clinician should discuss the results of the questionnaire with you.  

The clinician should ask you the areas of your life that you want to focus on. Usually, this is not more than 3 items but could be just one item depending on the time available in the consultation.

The clinician will ask you some questions about how you feel about this area, and what you would like to happen, and will work with you to develop options for how to move forward. The clinician should write up any actions that you agree into a care or support plan.   

When you have had more than one DIALOG you will be able to compare scores from you current DIALOG with previous scores: 

  • Any positive change is an achievement and can give you confidence.  
  • If there is little change, or your ratings show you are not feeling as well as you did earlier, your mental health team might use this as a starting point to discuss making some changes to your treatment. 

After the appointment 

The clinician should send you a list of the actions that were discussed and agreed during the meeting. This is called your ‘Care Plan’. This may be in the form of a letter or a document which outlines the plan for your care and any agreed actions. Some of the actions may be for the clinician and some may be for you and the people who support you.  Any actions for people who support you will need to be agreed by those people.  

At the next appointment 

Your mental health team should look at the actions from the previous appointment to see how you are getting on. You can discuss any progress made or any changes that might be needed.  Any changes to the actions should be agreed and sent to you after the meeting. 

If it has been a while (6 months) since you last completed DIALOG they will suggest that you complete another one to refocus on your current priorities. 

To support your care 

Your clinician should discuss the results of the DIALOG questionnaire during your appointments. You will be able to discuss what is important to you and develop a care and support plan that focuses on those things. The DIALOG scores will be part of your health record.

When you have had more than one DIALOG you will be able to compare your scores with previous scores: 

  • Any positive change is an achievement and can give you confidence.  

  • If there is little change, or your ratings show you are not feeling as well as you did earlier, your mental health team might use this as a starting point to discuss making some changes to your treatment. 

To help staff understand and improve the service they provide 

DIALOG scores may also be used anonymously to explore how people using mental health services are experiencing care to help improve the service provided.  This may help identify if there are particular local issues (e.g. problems with accommodation or leisure activities) which can then help support discussions with local partners. 

If you want to see previous DIALOG scores, you can ask your mental health team to show them to you. You should be able to see the scores from all the times that you have completed the questionnaire.   

We are working on a project so that you can see the DIALOG scores yourself outside of your appointments.  

Many people using mental health services have found that DIALOG is a helpful tool to ensure that their care is focused on what matters to them.

Many find it helpful to have a record of previous scores so that they can see more about their individual journey. 

If you don’t want to complete DIALOG, tell the clinician you are working with. It won’t affect any of the care that you are given. 

We have a number of different versions of DIALOG available if you have specific needs. These include DIALOG translated into different languages if English is not your first language and an Easy Read version for people who have additional needs.

Please ask your member of staff if you would like to use one of these versions.  

If it would be helpful to have the DIALOG questionnaire available in a different format that would be accessible for you, please let the DIALOG+ team know (karen.head@sabp.nhs.uk).  

If you want to know more about DIALOG or have any other questions, please contact your mental health team or email DIALOG@sabp.nhs.uk