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

Trine Natasja Nielsen; Ruben G, fukkink; Rasmus Helles

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

Trine Natasja Nielsen, Ruben G, fukkink, Rasmus Helles

Department of Communication

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

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 language	English
Journal	British Journal of Guidance and Counselling
Pages (from-to)	1-13
ISSN	0306-9885
Publication status	Published - 3 Mar 2020

Cite this

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abstract = "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{\textquoteright}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.",

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AB - 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.

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

Abstract

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