title: Children's experiences with chat support and telephone support.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In line with the wider trend of offering support via the Internet, many counseling and referral services for children have introduced online chat, often in addition to a traditional telephone service.
  
  
  METHODS
  A comparative study was conducted between the telephone service and the confidential one-on-one online chat service of the Dutch Kindertelefoon. The design included a concise pretest and a posttest (n = 902). The study also comprised a follow-up test (n = 213), which included the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children experienced a higher sense of well-being and a reduced severity of their problems after consulting the Kindertelefoon. The results were slightly more favorable for the chat service than for the telephone service. The follow-up survey showed that many of the children who contact the Kindertelefoon suffer from relatively severe emotional problems.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both the telephone and the web-based support improved the children's well-being and decreased their perceived burden of problem. The results of this study underline the need for closer cooperation between child helplines and mental health and child welfare services.
authors.affiliation: SCO-Kohnstamm Instituut, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. r.g.fukkink@uva.nl
authors.forename: Ruben G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Fukkink
authors.forename: Jo M A
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hermanns
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002669:Child Welfare; D003142:Communication; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006126:Group Processes; D015277:Hotlines; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires