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Telephone Emergency Service 142 (TelefonSeelsorge) during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Survey among Counselors in Austria

2021; Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute; Volume: 18; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3390/ijerph18052228

1661-7827

Elke Humer, Christoph Pieh, Thomas Probst, Ida‐Maria Kisler, Wolfgang Schimböck, Petra Schadenhofer,

COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts

Telephone emergency services play an important role in providing low-threshold, anonymous crisis intervention free of cost. The current study aims to examine the mental well-being and perceived stress level of counselors as well as the main topics of helpline callers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria. In the current study, 374 counselors were recruited within the Austrian nationwide organization TelefonSeelsorge during the second wave of COVID-19 infection in Austria. The mental well-being (WHO-5) and perceived stress-level (PSS-10) were assessed and counselors were asked about the frequency of different topics thematized by callers and changes compared to pre-pandemic times. Compared to a reference group of the Austrian general population, counselors experienced less stress (13.22 vs. 16.42) and higher mental well-being (66.26 vs. 57.36;