Comparisons of characteristics of adult and juvenile callers at high risk for suicide from psychological assistance hotline and the influencing factors of intervention effect / 四川精神卫生

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo compare the characteristics of adult and juvenile callers at high risk of suicide from psychological assistance hotline， to screen factors influencing the crisis intervention effect， so as to develop specific intervention programs for different age groups on psychological assistance hotline. MethodsFrom January 2021 to June 2021， a total of 2 229 callers at high risk for suicide were recruited from Beijing psychological assistance hotline. The selected individuals were divided into adult group （n=1 344） and juvenile group （n=885）. Callers were interviewed by the hotline operators. Their general information， suicidal ideation， socio-psychological characteristics and chief complaints were recorded and compared between two groups. Before and after hotline crisis interventions， psychological distress， suicidal ideation intensity and hope level of the callers were assessed， and the improvements in the three assessed dimensions were compared between two groups. Then Logistic regression was adopted to compare the crisis intervention effects on three dimensions and their associated factors. ResultsCompared with adult group， juvenile group reported higher rates of family relationship problems， learning problems， history of suicide attempts and fear of assault， with statistically significant differences （χ2=55.604， 24.706， 41.944， 106.527， P<0.01）. After hotline crisis intervention， the proportion of callers with increased level of hope was larger in juvenile group than that in adult group （42.74% vs. 30.97%， χ2=26.042， P<0.01）. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the chances of improvement in psychological distress for major depressive disorder （OR=0.650， 95% CI： 0.510~0.827）， the chances of improvement in the level of hope for those with substance dependents （OR=0.550， 95% CI： 0.327~0.926）， and the chances of improvement in the intensity of suicidal ideation for those with stressful life events （OR=0.565， 95% CI： 0.328~0.973） were all higher in juvenile group than those in adult group after crisis intervention. ConclusionAmong the callers at high risk for suicide from psychological assistance hotline， adult callers are more concerned about extra-familial relationships， work and economic problems， while juvenile callers are more concerned about family relationship and learning problems. Furthermore， the effect of crisis intervention in juvenile callers is less affected by major depressive disorder， substance use problems and stressful life events.