Patterns of Signs That Telephone Crisis Support Workers Associate with Suicide Risk in Telephone Crisis Line Callers

Telephone crisis lines are increasingly providing a much needed service in the community to the lonely, the depressed, and the suicidal. The Samaritan volunteer crisis line discussed here is open to any person at any time, day or night. The instant availability of such an anonymous service attracts callers who use the line inappropriately; these people are often referred to as repeat callers. The Samaritans discovered that repeat callers were creating serious problems for both staff and volunteers. The difficult task was to develop a policy to restrict the repeat callers, but at the same time ensuring that the mandate of the crisis line was offered to them. This article examines the characteristics of repeat callers, and makes suggestions about the management of the chronic caller.

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Education and Debriefing: Strategies for Preventing Crises in Crisis-Line Volunteers

Crisis ◽

10.1027//0227-5910.21.3.126 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 126-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Audrey Kinzel ◽

Jo Nanson

Keyword(s):

Compassion Fatigue ◽

Traumatic Events ◽

Coping Mechanisms ◽

Effective Strategy ◽

High Turnover ◽

Pain And Suffering ◽

Crisis Line ◽

And Training ◽

Telephone Crisis

Telephone crisis lines offer an important service to individuals in crisis. The accessibility as well as a lack of other means of support leads many individuals to call the line. The role of the volunteer is to listen and support the caller as well as provide information and referrals to other agencies. Agencies are presented with a high turnover of volunteers and are then faced with the task of recruiting and training replacements. Volunteers are often exposed to horrific accounts of human pain and suffering which may affect their personal thoughts, feelings, beliefs and actions and influence the decision to quit. Compassion fatigue is one term used for this inherent “cost of caring.” Many factors contribute to this cost including the nature of crisis calls, the repeat caller, and personal coping mechanisms. Educating and debriefing the volunteer are two strategies that may prevent the onset of compassion fatigue and volunteer resignation. Debriefing is viewed as an effective strategy for volunteers as it has been found to be successful in assisting other helpers in many different contexts to cope and deal with the traumatic events that they experience or hear about.

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Intervention among Suicidal Men: Future Directions for Telephone Crisis Support Research

Frontiers in Public Health ◽

10.3389/fpubh.2018.00001 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Tara Hunt ◽

Coralie J. Wilson ◽

Alan Woodward ◽

Peter Caputi ◽

Ian Wilson

Keyword(s):

Future Directions ◽

Crisis Support ◽

Telephone Crisis ◽

Support Research

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Telephone Crisis Support Workers' Intentions to Use Recommended Skills While Experiencing Functional Impairment

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000490 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (3) ◽

pp. 218-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Taneile A. Kitchingman ◽

Coralie J. Wilson ◽

Alan Woodward ◽

Peter Caputi ◽

Ian Wilson

Keyword(s):

Functional Impairment ◽

Online Survey ◽

Well Being ◽

National Sample ◽

Future Research ◽

Symptoms Of Depression ◽

Crisis Support ◽

Support Skills ◽

Representative National Sample ◽

Telephone Crisis

Abstract. Background: Empathic engagement with distressed others can lead to elevated symptoms of psychological distress and functional impairment, which preclude helping professionals' delivery of optimal patient care. Whether telephone crisis support workers are impacted in a similar way is not currently reported in the literature. Aims: This study examined the relationship between functional impairment and intentions to use recommended support skills in a representative national sample of 210 telephone crisis support workers. Method: Participants completed an online survey including measures of functional impairment and intentions to use recommended telephone crisis support skills with callers reporting suicidal ideation, symptoms of depression, and anxiety. Results: As a group, participants who experienced greater functional impairment during the past month reported significantly lower intentions to use recommended support skills with callers than those who reported lower functional impairment. Limitations: Future research is needed to clarify the extent to which results generalize to telephone crisis support workers from other organizations. Conclusion: Results warrant further research to (a) identify determinants of telephone crisis support workers' functional impairment, and (b) for the deliberate management of telephone crisis support workers' functional impairment through developing and/or modifying existing service strategies to optimize workers' psychological well-being and delivery of support to callers.

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Telephone Crisis Support Workers' Psychological Distress and Impairment

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000454 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 13-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Taneile A. Kitchingman ◽

Coralie J. Wilson ◽

Peter Caputi ◽

Ian Wilson ◽

Alan Woodward

Keyword(s):

Psychological Distress ◽

Resource Constraints ◽

Well Being ◽

Data Limitations ◽

Crisis Support ◽

Comprehensive Search ◽

The Impact ◽

Unpublished Information ◽

Comprehensive Search Strategy ◽

Telephone Crisis

Abstract. Background: In order to respond to crises with appropriate intervention, crisis workers are required to manage their own needs as well as the needs of those they respond to. Aims: A systematic review of the literature was conducted to examine whether telephone crisis support workers experience elevated symptoms of psychological distress and are impaired by elevated symptoms. Method: Studies were identified in April 2015 by searching three databases, conducting a gray literature search, and forward and backward citation chaining. Results: Of 113 identified studies, seven were included in the review. Results suggest that that telephone crisis support workers experience symptoms of vicarious traumatization, stress, burnout, and psychiatric disorders, and that they may not respond optimally to callers when experiencing elevated symptoms of distress. However, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn due to the paucity and methodological limitations of available data. Limitations: While the most comprehensive search strategy possible was adopted, resource constraints meant that conference abstracts were not searched and authors were not contacted for additional unpublished information. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to identify the impact of telephone crisis support workers' role on their well-being, the determinants of worker well-being in the telephone crisis support context, and the extent to which well-being impacts their performance and caller outcomes. This will help inform strategies to optimize telephone crisis support workers' well-being and their delivery of support to callers.

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Telephone Crisis Support Skills Scale

PsycTESTS Dataset ◽

10.1037/t46284-000 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Taneile A. Kitchingman ◽

Coralie J. Wilson ◽

Peter Caputi ◽

Alan Woodward ◽

Tara Hunt

Keyword(s):

Crisis Support ◽

Support Skills ◽

Telephone Crisis

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Development and Evaluation of the Telephone Crisis Support Skills Scale

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000341 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 36 (6) ◽

pp. 407-415 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Taneile A. Kitchingman ◽

Coralie J. Wilson ◽

Peter Caputi ◽

Alan Woodward ◽

Tara Hunt

Keyword(s):

Factor Structure ◽

Internal Consistency ◽

Online Survey ◽

National Sample ◽

Published Evidence ◽

Reliability Method ◽

Crisis Support ◽

Support Skills ◽

Telephone Crisis

Abstract. Background: Although telephone services continue to play an important role in the delivery of front-line crisis support, published evidence of the standardized assessment of such services does not exist to date. Aims: To describe the development of the Telephone Crisis Support Skills Scale (TCSSS), an instrument to assess workers’ intentions to use recommended skills with callers, and to evaluate its factor structure and reliability. Method: TCSSS items were mapped to a national telephone crisis support practice model. A national sample of workers (n = 210) completed the TCSSS as part of a larger online survey. Principal axis factoring was used to evaluate the structure of the instrument. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s α values. Results: A single factor accounted for more than 40% of the variance within TCSSS ratings, indicating unidimensional structure. Cronbach’s α coefficients suggested adequate internal consistency. Conclusion: Results indicate that the TCSSS is an internally consistent, unidimensional scale, sufficiently sensitive to detect workers’ skill priorities for different caller problem types. Further study is required to confirm the factor structure and reliability of the TCSSS using workers from different organizations. Following further evaluation, the TCSSS may be applied to assessing readiness for and quality of service delivery.

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