Citation

Bassilios B, Harris M, Middleton A, Gunn J, Pirkis J. Adm. Policy Ment. Health 2014; 42(5): 621-632.

Affiliation

Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia, b.bassilios@unimelb.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10488-014-0595-8

PMID

25234346

Abstract

The characteristics of people who use telephone counseling are not well understood. This secondary analysis used data from a nationally representative community survey of 8,841 Australian adults to compare callers and non-callers to telephone counseling services. Callers have a poorer clinical profile, including a higher risk of suicide, than people who do not use telephone counseling. They also use a variety of other mental health services. Repeat calls are associated with anxiety disorders, receipt of mental health care from general practitioners, and social disadvantage. All callers have a potential need for telephone counseling and further population studies that distinguish between telephone services intended to provide crisis (one-off) and ongoing counseling are warranted.

Language: en