Abstract:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, psychological assistance hotlines emerged as a crucial channel for mental health services, quickly responding to the surge in demand for psychological support. Despite the advantages of overcoming spatial limitations, providing timely responses, and offering flexible and convenient services, these hotlines still face numerous challenges. This article reviews the research and practices of psychological assistance hotlines during the pandemic, analyzing their functions, roles, and the challenges they faced, while proposing a series of strategies to address these issues. The aim is to explore how to optimize hotline services to help governments, social organizations, and hotline workers manage the increased demand for psychological support and the growing diversity of help-seeking situations.

To improve the effectiveness of hotline services, researchers have developed and adjusted a theoretical framework tailored to hotline operations, based on extensive theoretical research in the field of counseling and practical experience with hotlines. Theories of crisis intervention and stress response models guide the intervention strategies for individuals at different psychological stages. In the early stages of a crisis, hotlines focus on emotional calming and alleviating anxiety and other stress reactions; as time progresses, they shift to addressing chronic symptoms like depression, helping individuals regain normal life functions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, psychological assistance hotlines played a crucial role in maintaining public mental health by providing a safe and reliable channel for individuals to cope with the psychological stress caused by the pandemic. These hotlines offer universal accessibility and cost-effectiveness, enabling broad support even in resource-constrained environments. They also serve as an important information source, helping to monitor the public’s mental health status, providing data support to policymakers, and facilitating timely responses to emerging social psychological issues.

During this period, the intervention techniques used by psychological assistance hotlines were optimized, particularly with the development of efficient intervention methods centered around emotional support and empowerment, which effectively alleviated callers' psychological stress. Some studies have provided evidence of their effectiveness through quantitative evaluations. However, research also indicates that the effectiveness of interventions is influenced by several factors, including inadequate hardware facilities, the experience and professional competence of the hotline workers, and the alignment between the severity of the caller’s issues and the hotline’s capacity.

At the same time, psychological assistance hotlines face a series of challenges. First, the lack of uniformity in the content and standards of hotline services has led to discrepancies in service effectiveness and quality. Second, when dealing with sensitive issues such as suicide crises, there are ethical and legal risks related to balancing privacy protection with providing effective assistance. Additionally, hotline workers often face high-intensity work pressure, which can lead to professional burnout and emotional exhaustion. Finally, due to uneven resource distribution and inadequate management mechanisms, the potential of hotlines has not been fully realized within the social psychological service system.

Based on the analysis of challenges faced by psychological assistance hotlines, this study proposes several strategies informed by successful practices from both domestic and international hotlines. First, national-level coordination of resources is necessary, with financial and policy support to establish clear operational standards, qualifications, and supervision mechanisms for hotlines. Training and management should adopt unified standards, with regular professional training and supervision for call operators. After the intervention, the use of caller feedback and third-party evaluations can help continuously improve service quality. Additionally, the classification and integration of hotlines, leveraging the strengths of various systems, may optimize resource allocation.

Second, the development of data collection systems and research related to hotlines is essential. Standardized evaluation tools should be created to quantify and improve the efficiency of assessing callers’ issues and the effectiveness of interventions. Researchers should explore advanced data analysis tools and fully utilize original recordings and video materials to reduce bias from indirect subjective assessments.

Moreover, the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies presents new possibilities for psychological assistance platforms. The incorporation of virtual assistants or chatbots can automate hotline operations, enhancing service efficiency. Future efforts should focus on developing new types of psychological assistance platforms through cooperation and resource integration, digitization, and automation. By closely linking with communities, schools, hospitals, law enforcement, legal aid agencies, and psychological counseling centers, resources can be integrated and shared to provide feasible support and referral services for callers. This will ensure that callers receive continued support after their consultations and contribute to the comprehensive development of social psychological services. The experiences gained from psychological assistance hotlines during the COVID-19 pandemic offer valuable insights for future social psychological reconstruction post-pandemic, as well as for psychological crisis intervention and social psychological support services during other major public events.

Key words: COVID-19, psychological assistance hotlines, major public health events, mental health