A Comparative Study of the Effectiveness of Text-Based Crisis Intervention and Phone-Based Crisis Intervention in Reducing Emotional Distress Among Texters and Callers.

Introduction: Today, dying by suicide is one of the most important mental health challenges in the world, and proper planning and using various preventive methods play an important role in this field. The present research aimed to study comparatively the effectiveness of text-based intervention in reducing emotional distress of people involved in psychosocial crises, comparing it with phone-based intervention.

Methods: In this study, the Distress Thermometer, assessing emotional distress, was used at the start and end of both text and phone-based interventions to explore their effectiveness in crisis de-escalation and management. This study comprises two samples within an overarching study, with 700 clients receiving text-based intervention and 737 clients receiving phone-based intervention.

Results: The research findings indicate the effectiveness of both methods in reducing emotional distress among individuals in crisis. The mean emotional distress significantly differed between pre-and post-tests. Importantly, prior to controlling for baseline distress levels, text-based intervention demonstrated particularly strong efficacy in reducing emotional distress, showing a statistically significant difference.

Conclusion: Recognizing the effectiveness of both intervention methods and particularly the favorable response of young people with immediate suicide risk to text-based intervention, prioritizing the implementation of text-based systems is recommended in the national suicide prevention programs of developing countries.