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Characteristics of People Who Use Telephone Counseling: Findings from Secondary Analysis of a Population-Based Study

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Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 18 November 2014

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.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Lifeline Foundation with funding from Servier Australia. The authors wish to thank the Lifeline Foundation and Servier Australia for the opportunity to collaborate on this important research project. We thank Alan Woodward for his professional input. The 2007 NSMHWB was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, and conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Aves Middleton is funded through PhD scholarships proceeded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Rotary Health and Jane Pirkis is funded by a Senior Research Fellowship from the NHMRC.

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Correspondence to Bridget Bassilios.

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Bassilios, B., Harris, M., Middleton, A. et al. Characteristics of People Who Use Telephone Counseling: Findings from Secondary Analysis of a Population-Based Study. Adm Policy Ment Health 42, 621–632 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-014-0595-8

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