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

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Providing helpline services to children via texting (i.e. Short Message Service or SMS) is being used increasingly. However, little is known about the quality of SMS counselling and its effect on the service users. Through a quantitative content analysis of 448 SMS sessions at the Danish child helpline, we studied counsellor behaviour and session impact. We found higher levels of children’s well-being and empowerment after contacting the service. Multiple regression models showed that a positive impact of counselling was related to higher density of child-centred counsellor behaviour and moderate levels of problem-centred counsellor behaviour. These findings were consistent across most stressors with positive effects in the small-to-medium range. SMS counselling shows potential as a tool for counselling children and youth.
Original languageEnglish
JournalBritish Journal of Guidance and Counselling
Volume48
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)263-275
ISSN0306-9885
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

    Research areas

  • Child helpline, SMS counselling, mediated communication, texting, content analysis

ID: 242466808