Page 119 - Petelin, Ana, et al. Eds. 2019. Zdravje otrok in mladostnikov / Health of Children and Adolescents. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo / Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press
P. 119
years of youth web counselling practice in Slovenia ikt rešitve in storitve | ict solutions and services
Ksenija Lekić1, Petra Tratnjek1, Nuša Konec Juričič1, Domen Kralj1, Marjan Cugmas2
1 National Institute of Public Health, Regional Unit Celje, Ipavčeva 18, 3000 Celje,
Slovenia
2 University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kardeljeva ploščad 5, 1000
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Introduction: This is Me is the largest youth web counselling service in Slovenia,
since 2001, providing adolescents with anonymous, simple and efficient pub-
lic access to expert advice and problem-solving assistance. Service at www.
tosemjaz.net runs under the framework of National Institute of Public Health.
Multidisciplinary web counselling network includes 54 experts – volunteers
(medical doctors of various specialties, psychologists, social pedagogues and
other professionals). Editorial board is daily responsible for communication be-
tween adolescents and counsellors, as well as for the consistent coding of each
question. More than 43,000 anonymous questions were posted in the 18 years
period (2001-2019).
Methods: This study presents the content analysis of the 14,980 questions,
posted in 2012-2018, and answered by the experts.
Results: The majority of questions (78 %) are posted by girls and 58 % of writ-
ers are aged 14 - 17 years. The following topics are the most frequent: phys-
ical health (31 %), interpersonal relations and mental health (30 %), sexuality
(24 %). In this period 10 % of all analyzed questions were categorized as ‘most
difficult questions’ - mainly related to eating disorders, self-harming behavior
and suicidality.
Discussion and conclusions: Web counselling service provide an additional
source of help for adolescents in distress. Experiential practice calls for the de-
velopment of professional standards, guidelines and educational programmes
in the field of e-counselling. Clear editorial protocols are needed.
Keywords: adolescents, web counselling service, problem-solving aid,
editorial protocols
117
Ksenija Lekić1, Petra Tratnjek1, Nuša Konec Juričič1, Domen Kralj1, Marjan Cugmas2
1 National Institute of Public Health, Regional Unit Celje, Ipavčeva 18, 3000 Celje,
Slovenia
2 University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kardeljeva ploščad 5, 1000
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Introduction: This is Me is the largest youth web counselling service in Slovenia,
since 2001, providing adolescents with anonymous, simple and efficient pub-
lic access to expert advice and problem-solving assistance. Service at www.
tosemjaz.net runs under the framework of National Institute of Public Health.
Multidisciplinary web counselling network includes 54 experts – volunteers
(medical doctors of various specialties, psychologists, social pedagogues and
other professionals). Editorial board is daily responsible for communication be-
tween adolescents and counsellors, as well as for the consistent coding of each
question. More than 43,000 anonymous questions were posted in the 18 years
period (2001-2019).
Methods: This study presents the content analysis of the 14,980 questions,
posted in 2012-2018, and answered by the experts.
Results: The majority of questions (78 %) are posted by girls and 58 % of writ-
ers are aged 14 - 17 years. The following topics are the most frequent: phys-
ical health (31 %), interpersonal relations and mental health (30 %), sexuality
(24 %). In this period 10 % of all analyzed questions were categorized as ‘most
difficult questions’ - mainly related to eating disorders, self-harming behavior
and suicidality.
Discussion and conclusions: Web counselling service provide an additional
source of help for adolescents in distress. Experiential practice calls for the de-
velopment of professional standards, guidelines and educational programmes
in the field of e-counselling. Clear editorial protocols are needed.
Keywords: adolescents, web counselling service, problem-solving aid,
editorial protocols
117
