SMS counselling at a child helpline: counsellor strategies, children’s stressors and well-being

Sindahl, Trine Natasja; Fukkink, Ruben; Helles, Rasmus

doi:10.1080/03069885.2019.1580676

Cited by 6 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Some research has argued that due to anonymity and the loss of non-verbal communication, the therapeutic relationship cannot develop as comprehensively, but the same study found working alliance scores were higher in the online therapy sample. 30 Contextually, adolescents prefer to go online for therapy due to the perceived anonymity and as stigma may be decreased, 32,35 although there remains discrepancy across services as to whether crisis services should be contacted if significant risk is disclosed. [36][37][38] The anonymity of online therapy has been associated with greater self-disclosure compared to face-to-face therapy, with service users being more comfortable to discuss a range of topics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the development and maintenance of therapeutic relationships through e-Health support: A narrative analysis of therapist experiences

Wood

Wilson²,

Parry

2021

Medicine Access @ Point of Care

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Objective: Amid COVID-19 disruptions, e-therapy has become even more essential and has rapidly expanded across statutory, private and third sectors to meet growing demands for digital mental health support. A challenge in digital therapeutic care is how to develop and maintain a supportive, collaborative therapeutic relationship, built upon mutual trust and respect; intrinsic values of relationships that are often implied through complex non-verbal cues. Online practitioners are eager to learn how to adapt to online delivery, although platform-specific training is limited. The aim of the current study was to focus upon the therapist experience of online therapeutic relationships with young people, exploring a range of factors through their perspectives, including the impact of anonymity. Methods: Eight e-therapy practitioners were recruited from Kooth, an online mental health service. Narrative interviews undertaken via Skype facilitated reflective conversational one-to-one discussions, based upon the practitioners’ individual experiences, led by the interviewee. Following transcription and anonymisation, a narrative analysis was undertaken to explore participants’ experiences, perspectives and reflections. Results: Four analytic layers arose from the narratives, which explored the challenging learning experience of translating existing therapeutic skills to online working, rapidly building therapeutic relationships, managing risk in the online therapeutic relationship, and techniques for maintaining a digital therapeutic relationship. Conclusion: The study provides novel insights into the flexibility and adjustments therapists can make to improve online interventions and delivery through the development and maintenance of positive therapeutic relationships. Recommendations are also made in relation to platform-specific training, communicative adaptations, risk management and practitioner support.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the development and maintenance of therapeutic relationships through e-Health support: A narrative analysis of therapist experiences

Wood

Wilson²,

Parry

2021

Medicine Access @ Point of Care

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“…The present study is part of a larger research project looking at the general effects of counselor behavior on children contacting a child helpline via texting (Jensen, Sindahl, & Wistoft, ; Sindahl, Fukkink, & Helles, ; Sindahl & van Dolen, ). The aims of this study are to determine (1) how children and youth contacting a child helpline with suicide ideation differ from children and youth discussing other topics; (2) whether text messaging helps children and young people with suicide ideation; and (3) which counselor behaviors are more effective for helping children with suicide ideation via texting.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Texting for Help: Processes and Impact of Text Counseling with Children and Youth with Suicide Ideation

Sindahl

Côte

Dargis

et al. 2018

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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Objective To explore: (1) how children contacting a child helpline with suicide ideation differ from children discussing other topics, (2) whether text messaging effectively helps, and (3) which counselor behaviors are most effective. Method Of 6,060 text sessions at the Danish national child helpline, 444 concerned suicidality, of which the 102 sessions that included self‐rated, end Session ratings were selected for content analysis. Results Twenty‐six percentage of suicidal children had severe suicidality. The suicide sample had significantly more girls, was older than the nonsuicide sample, and more often recontacted the helpline in the 2 weeks prior to follow‐up. 35.9% of suicidal children felt better immediately and over half ended the session with a plan of action. At follow‐up, 23.9% of suicidal children reported feeling better; however, 37.0% reported feeling worse. Talking about emotions, expressing empathy, and encouraging the child to talk to someone were associated with positive impacts. Setting boundaries was associated with negative impacts. Conclusions Texting with suicidal children can be helpful, but should be considered a first step toward obtaining more sustainable help. Research is needed to determine how to better help children who felt worse or did not improve in the 2 weeks after contacting the helpline. Suggestions to further training of counselors are discussed.

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“…This suggests that the influence of the emotional support partner effect is not stronger for volunteers with a higher service-offering adaptiveness disposition. Emotional support is the most beneficial type of support for uncontrollable problems (Cutrona, 1990), which are the types of problems most frequently discussed at child helplines (Sindahl et al, 2019). Child helpline volunteers are trained to give emotional support for these problems through active listening and providing empathy (Sindahl, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…eating disorders or friendships), instrumental support is advised, whereas emotional support is better suited for problems out of the child's control (e.g. abuse or parents arguing) (Cutrona, 1990;Rains et al, 2017;Sindahl et al, 2019;Van Dolen and Weinberg, 2017). It is up to volunteers to determine how much of each type of support to give to each child (Gilat and Rosenau, 2011).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Partner effects of social support Support can be divided into two different categories (Cutrona, 1990;Cutrona and Russell, 1990). Instrumental support refers to assisting individuals to address or solve problems (Beehr and McGrath, 1992;Cutrona and Russell, 1990;Van Dolen et al, 2002), while emotional support refers to fostering interpersonal relationships and trying to alleviate negative emotions brought on by stressful events without directly trying to solve the problems (Beehr and McGrath, 1992;Cutrona, 1990;Sindahl et al, 2019). When providing emotional support, helpline employees are trained to establish rapport but not to comfort children to the extent that they fail to discuss the problem that prompted them to contact the helpline (Sindahl, 2013).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Child helplines: exploring determinants and boundary conditions of volunteer encounter satisfaction

Siegel

Dolen

2020

JSM

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Purpose Volunteers at child helplines play an important role in providing support for children, so keeping them satisfied during encounters is crucial to continue helping children. The purpose of this study is to understand how children’s perceptions of instrumental and emotional support (partner effects) influence volunteer encounter satisfaction, and whether this effect is moderated by a volunteer’s previous encounter experience and levels of interpersonal and service-offering adaptiveness. Design/methodology/approach The sample consisted of 377 dyads of 116 volunteers and 377 children from online service encounters at a child helpline. Questionnaires were used to measure satisfaction, support and volunteer adaptiveness. A multilevel model was estimated to test the hypothesized moderation effects. Findings This study revealed that the instrumental support partner effect positively influenced volunteer encounter satisfaction. This relationship was stronger when the previous encounter was less satisfying or for volunteers with higher interpersonal, but not higher service-offering, adaptiveness. Negative effects on the relationship between the emotional support partner effect and volunteer encounter satisfaction were found after a less satisfying previous encounter or for volunteers with higher interpersonal adaptiveness. Originality/value This study contributes to the services and volunteerism literature by providing a unique perspective on the interpersonal influence between volunteers and children during service encounters. In the context of child helplines, this paper illustrates how volunteer encounter satisfaction is a function of the intricate interplay between children’s perceptions of the service encounter and volunteers’ perceptions of previous experiences and their adaptiveness.

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SMS counselling at a child helpline: counsellor strategies, children’s stressors and well-being

Cited by 6 publications

References 32 publications

Exploring the development and maintenance of therapeutic relationships through e-Health support: A narrative analysis of therapist experiences

Exploring the development and maintenance of therapeutic relationships through e-Health support: A narrative analysis of therapist experiences

Texting for Help: Processes and Impact of Text Counseling with Children and Youth with Suicide Ideation

Child helplines: exploring determinants and boundary conditions of volunteer encounter satisfaction

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