ODDESSI Trial

25 August 2022
ODDESSI is the largest randomised control trial currently underway in London, researching the effectiveness of Open Dialogue in crisis and continuing metal health care.

ODDESSI (Open Dialogue: Development and Evaluation of a Social Network Intervention for Severe Mental Illness) is a large-scale programme of research into crisis and continuing mental health care within the National Health Service (NHS) in London. This programme is funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and managed by North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) and includes Open Dialogue and research teams in five NHS Trust research sites.

ODDESSI aims to transform the current model of health care for patients with major mental health problems. The research asks several questions:

Can we develop a way to offer Open Dialogue in the NHS that is acceptable to staff (including peers) and service-users? Does it fit in with how existing NHS services operate?
Does offering Open Dialogue result in good clinical outcomes, and is it worth the money?
What is the experience of service users, carers, and staff?
The ODDESSI trial is working with participants receiving Open Dialogue or usual care to look at which approach is most helpful. They are also looking at whether a sense of shared decision making is important in recovery, and a person’s relationships, and what the experiences of carers and staff have been. The first participant was recruited in June 2019, and the final participants in August 2021. They will follow up participants for two years with research interviews and by collecting information from their electronic records.

A concurrent Process Evaluation is also looking to provide some context to the results of the main trial and the implications for health services. This evaluation is examining data from client electronic record systems and by conducting interviews with consumers, social networks, peer practitioner and clinical staff. Key questions the team are looking at are:

What are crisis teams, community mental health teams, and Open Dialogue teams that are part of the trial doing on a day-to-day basis?
What are their team structures, staffing levels, and staff retention?
Are people’s caseloads comparable?
How is care being delivered across the teams, and what are the differences and similarities?
What is it like to deliver all treatments within these teams, and what is it like to be a client of one of these teams?
The ODDESSI trial evaluation is expected to complete in 2023, with research publication in 2024.