Someone to Listen: Increasing Youth Help‐seeking Behavior Through a Text‐based Crisis Line for Youth

Evans, William; Davidson, Laura A.; Sicafuse, Lorie L.

doi:10.1002/jcop.21551

Cited by 40 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…This increased sense of control and privacy can make the difference in whether or not an individual will seek help during a crisis, particularly for individuals who feel stigmatized (Lester and Rogers, 2012). As a result, remote crisis counseling may encourage help-seeking among populations that have been traditionally less likely to receive support for mental distress (Lester and Rogers, 2012;Evans et al, 2013;Haner and Pepler, 2016).…”

Section: Help-seeking Via New Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is critical that researchers and practitioners are aware of any population-level disparities limiting the use of these resources. Recently, remote crisis counseling services have expanded into new platforms with the development of online and text-based resources that are more widely used by adolescent populations (Evans et al, 2013). Because these services are so new, little is known about the underlying patterns of use, and whether or not traditional disparities in help-seeking and mental health treatment persist across these platforms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Adolescents in crisis: A geographic exploration of help-seeking behavior using data from Crisis Text Line

Thompson

Sugg

Runkle

2018

Social Science & Medicine

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Prior research has demonstrated that a variety of demographic, socioeconomic, and environmental factors can influence the prevalence and severity of mental distress and whether an individual is likely to receive treatment. Behavioral health research has been limited to self-reported survey data, but advances in technology have provided increased opportunities to continuously capture and store data, and to learn about the help-seeking habits of its contributors. In response to the growing prevalence of technologically mediated crisis counseling services, this county-level ecological study evaluated whether these same disparities exist for help-seeking via Crisis Text Line, a free, ubiquitous, technology-based crisis counseling service. Because most suicide attempts are impulsive acts, crisis hotlines are often the only resource available to suicidal or at-risk individuals. It is critical that researchers and practitioners are aware of any population-level disparities limiting the use of these invaluable resources. To date, this is the first study to examine text-based help-seeking behavior among adolescents at a national scale. Results identify several factors associated with increased or reduced help-seeking behavior among adolescents in the U.S. Increased v rates of CTL usage occur in counties with higher mean household incomes, higher divorce rates, and lower residential stability. Rurality was the strongest predictor for low rates of help-seeking, and this finding is particularly concerning in light of elevated rates of suicide among rural counties. Low rates of help-seeking compound ongoing rural-urban disparities in traditional mental health services, and this finding suggests that increased suicide risk in rural areas cannot be explained by mental health professional shortages alone. Rural communities, particularly those with low support-seeking behavior and comparatively high suicide rates, should be the target of future research and outreach.vi

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Section: Help-seeking Via New Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescents in crisis: A geographic exploration of help-seeking behavior using data from Crisis Text Line

Thompson

Sugg

Runkle

2018

Social Science & Medicine

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“…Today, SMS counseling is the second most common way for children to receive help from a child helpline worldwide, after telephone contacts (Child Helpline International, ). However, we have little research on the effectiveness of text counseling, compared to help provided by telephone and Internet chat (Evans, Davidson, & Sicafuse, ; Mishara & Côté, ).…”

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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“…Electronic communication in mental health services has increased over the last decade. The first crisis line in the U.S. to accept text messages was launched in 2010 in Nevada (Evans et al, 2013). This line yielded immediate use among high schoolers, with more than half using it more than once.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, receiving crisis services via a mobile device that allows one to access help in any location at any time is arguably different from computer-based services. After an extensive search of available research across several scholarly databases, only four studies surfaced that investigated some aspect of texting-based crisis intervention and one that assessed chat sessions (Evans et al, 2013;Gibson et al, 2016;Haxel, 2013;Mokkenstorm et al, 2017). Evans et al (2013) conducted a pilot study of a texting helpline, using focus groups with 113 high school youth and post-intervention demographic and service data from the crisis counselors.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reaching Young People Through Texting-Based Crisis Counseling

Nesmith¹

2019

ASW

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Texting-based crisis intervention counseling reaches young people who suffer from mental health issues at high rates yet hesitate to seek help. As a new interface, it is neither well-researched nor well-understood. This study examined 49 randomly selected text counseling transcripts and key informant interviews with two counselors to identify unique characteristics of the text counseling process and learn texter reactions to the sessions. Texters presented problems that were similar to those reported in voice-based hotlines. Texters valued the privacy and flexibility of texting that permitted them to receive help immediately rather than delaying. Counselors reported that they must be brief and direct with questions and avoid assigning emphasis to words. The written format required that both parties must be explicit and clear to convey their messages accurately. Both texters and counselors suggested that the texting option might lead young people to seek help that they might otherwise avoid. Recommendations include specialized training on strategies to assess and connect with texters using only the written word and research to develop best practices for texting-based crisis intervention services.

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Someone to Listen: Increasing Youth Help‐seeking Behavior Through a Text‐based Crisis Line for Youth

Cited by 40 publications

References 13 publications

Adolescents in crisis: A geographic exploration of help-seeking behavior using data from Crisis Text Line

Adolescents in crisis: A geographic exploration of help-seeking behavior using data from Crisis Text Line

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

Reaching Young People Through Texting-Based Crisis Counseling

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