An Analysis of 100 Muslim Email Counseling Clients

This chapter analyzes 100 of the author's Muslim clients to learn about their most common problems, demographic information, number of emails typically exchanged, and number of resolved and unresolved cases. The most common problems were marital, family (non-marital) issues, depression symptoms, and anxiety symptoms. Eighty-four percent of clients were women and 16% were men. Most clients were from either the Indian subcontinent or North America and were in their twenties. The average number of email exchanges (a single client's email and the author's therapeutic response) was six. Of the 100 clients, 36 cases were resolved, 57 cases were unresolved, and 7 cases are ongoing. The main type of marital problem faced was infidelity (physical and non-physical). Islam-informed cognitive behavioral techniques, as well as relevant Islamic teachings to use in therapy, are recommended and explained. An overall finding is that global Muslim clients seek online counseling for mostly relationship problems.

Correction to: Web-Based Intervention and Email‑Counseling for Problem Gamblers: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

The article “Web-Based Intervention and Email-Counseling for Problem Gamblers: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial” was written by Benjamin Jonas, Fabian Leuschner, Anna Eiling, Christine Schoelen, Renate Soellner and Peter Tossmann.

“As it’s our last exchange next time…”. The closure initiation in email counseling

This paper reports from an interpersonal pragmatics perspective on the negotiation of closure of the counseling process in five naturally occurring email counseling exchanges between one counselor and five different clients. I focus on three aspects: who initiates closure, in what form, and in which interpersonal context. A mixed methodology consisting of a discourse-analytic approach combined with a participant interview serves to examine the closure initiation from multiple perspectives. Results show that extensive collaborative work (e. g. relational strategies such as showing empathy or praising) is carried out to create a “closure-relevant” environment in which the initiation of closure can occur. The counselor, who initiates all five closures, tailors the initiation according to clients’ progress so far and elicits specific relational work (e. g. self-praise) from clients that aims to position them as active self-helpers. It is the collaborative work by counselor and clients that facilitates the closure initiation of the counseling process. The analysis of the collaborative work from an interpersonal pragmatics perspective provides further empirical evidence of the link between relational work and identity construction.

Web-Based Interventions Alone or Supplemented with Peer-Led Support or Professional Email Counseling for Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance in Women from Rural Communities: Results of a Clinical Trial

Objective. This trial compared the effectiveness of a web-based only (WO) intervention with web-based supplemented by peer-led discussion (WD) or professional email counseling (WE) across 3 phases to achieve weight loss and weight maintenance in women from underserved rural communities.Methods. 301 women (BMI of 28–45 kg/m2) randomly assigned to groups participated in guided weight loss (baseline to 6 months), guided weight loss and maintenance (6 to 18 months), and self-managed weight maintenance (18 to 30 months).Results. Retention was 88.7%, 76.5%, and 71.8% at 6, 18, and 30 months, respectively. Intent-to-treat analyses demonstrated no group differences in change in weight within any phases. At 6 months, observed mean (SD) weight loss was 5.1 (6.0) kg in WO, 4.1 (5.6) kg in WD, and 6.0 (6.3) kg in WE, with 42%, 38%, and 51%, respectively, meeting ≥ 5% weight loss. These proportions dropped by a third after phase 2 with no further change during phase 3.Conclusion. Web-based interventions assisted women from rural communities in achieving 6-month weight loss, with weight regain by half at 30 months. No group differences were potentially due to the robust nature of the web-based intervention.Trial Registration. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.govNCT01307644.

Counseling and new media technologies: A comparison of problem presentations in e-mail and in chat

In this article, we examine problem presentations in e-mail and chat counseling. Previous studies of online counseling have found that the medium (e.g., chat, email) impacts the unfolding interaction. However, the implications for counseling are unclear. We focus on problem presentations and use conversation analysis to compare 15 chat and 22 e-mail interactions from the same counseling program. We find that in e-mail counseling, counselors open up the interactional space to discuss various issues, whereas in chat, counselors restrict problem presentations and give the client less space to elaborate. We also find that in e-mail counseling, clients use narratives to present their problem and orient to its seriousness and legitimacy, while in chat counseling, they construct problem presentations using a symptom or a diagnosis. Furthermore, in email counseling, clients close their problem presentations stating completeness, while in chat counseling, counselors treat clients’ problem presentations as incomplete. Our findings shed light on how the medium has implications for counseling.

The Functions of Narrative Passages in Three Written Online Health Contexts

This paper investigates and compares the functions of narrative passages in three computermediated health practices centering on advice-giving: (1) email counseling at a UK university, (2) online forums providing peer support for quitters of smoking, and (3) anti-smoking websites by UK governmental, commercial and charitable institutions. We found that the functions of the narrative passages are manifold and often overlapping. They range from seeking advice, giving advice, indicating/seeking agreement, supporting a claim, showing compliance with advice given to reporting on progress and success. In a second step, these insights were linked to how the narrative passages were used for identity construction and relational work. The results show that narratives are employed to create various identities, such as authentic advice-seekers, active self-helpers, successful quitters and advice-givers. Our comparison reveals that narrative functions utilized in all three practices exhibit nuanced differences due to medium factors and interactional goals of the practices. Finally, in these contexts of self-improvement, narratives document stability or transformation in the sense of clients’ improved health and smokers’ change to becoming non-smokers respectively.