Emotional First aid for a Suicide Crisis: Comparison Between Telephonic Hotline and Internet

Characteristics of calls to 3 technologically mediated sources of help that are part of the volunteer-based Israeli Association for Emotional First Aid were compared. 4426 calls to a telephone hotline were compared with 373 personal chats & 954 postings to an asynchronous online support group. Threats of suicide were much more frequent among participants in the asynchronous support group than the telephone & personal chat. These findings encourage further research into suicide-related interpersonal exchanges in asynchronous online support groups. (26 refs.)