Barak Azy, Bloch Nili
Department of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Cyberpsychol Behav. 2006 Feb;9(1):60-8. doi: 10.1089/cpb.2006.9.60.
The purpose of the study was to examine the contribution made by dimensions of session-impact factors (depth and smoothness), end-of-session factors of client's mood (positivity and emotional arousal), and several textual variables (use of positive and negative emotional words; helper's and client's writing lengths) to perceived helpfulness of emotional support conversations carried on by trained, paraprofessional helpers through an Internet chat with highly distressed individuals. Two studies were conducted at an Israeli, exclusively online emotional support service for suicidal and highly distressed people who have undergone various negative experiences (SAHAR). Study 1 compared 40 chat conversations deliberately indicated by clients as having been helpful at the termination stage of session with 40 other conversations, using expert judgments of session-impact factors, as well as objective word counts for textual variables. Study 2 examined correlations between helpers' evaluation of the sessions' helpfulness to clients in 60 (other) chat support conversations and session-impact factors and textual variables. The findings of Study 1 showed that all four impact factors significantly differentiated between helpful and other conversations, while textual variables did not. In Study 2, the results showed that all four session-impact factors positively correlated with session helpfulness, yielding multiple R = 0.54, as well as the length of helper's and client's writing. The implications of these studies are similar to offline counseling sessions: deep, smooth conversations that yield positive responses and arouse clients' emotions in online support are more helpful than shallow, bumping conversations that leave clients emotionally indifferent. Longer writing, by both helpers and clients, seems to be an important factor, as well.
本研究的目的是考察会话影响因素的维度（深度和平滑度）、来访者会话结束时的情绪因素（积极性和情绪唤醒）以及几个文本变量（积极和消极情绪词汇的使用；帮助者和来访者的书写长度）对由训练有素的准专业帮助者通过互联网与极度痛苦的个体进行的情感支持对话中感知到的帮助程度的贡献。在以色列一家专门为有自杀倾向和经历过各种负面经历的极度痛苦人群提供在线情感支持的服务机构（SAHAR）进行了两项研究。研究1将来访者在会话结束阶段明确表示有帮助的40次聊天对话与另外40次对话进行了比较，运用了会话影响因素的专家判断以及文本变量的客观词汇计数。研究2考察了在60次（其他）聊天支持对话中帮助者对会话对来访者帮助程度的评价与会话影响因素和文本变量之间的相关性。研究1的结果表明，所有四个影响因素在有帮助的对话和其他对话之间有显著差异，而文本变量则没有。在研究2中，结果表明所有四个会话影响因素与会话帮助程度呈正相关，复相关系数R = 0.54，帮助者和来访者的书写长度也是如此。这些研究的启示与线下咨询会话类似：在在线支持中，能产生积极回应并唤起来访者情绪的深入、流畅对话比让来访者情绪冷漠的肤浅、磕绊对话更有帮助。帮助者和来访者更长的书写似乎也是一个重要因素。
