The Danish Family Planning Association (www.sexogsamfund.dk) runs a professional, anonymous and toll free telephone and Internet counselling service (www.sexlinien.dk) for teenagers about sexuality and related issues. About 9,000 questions are answered on-line every year. Various associations offer on-line counselling, but literature on methods and results is scarce.
To get information through to the on-line users, it is important to be aware of the language and structure used in replies - otherwise the user may misinterpret the answer or dismiss it altogether. Thus, to run a professional on-line counselling it is necessary to prioritize the education of the counsellors in the structural aspects of counselling. This education should at least focus on how and why to:
• Meet the user at eye level
• Use the same words and concepts as the user
• Use a correct grammar and vocabulary
• Use an accessible, contemporary and “youth-friendly” language
• Avoid implicit or subtle language
• Be consistent in the wording of the reply
• Write the answer at the beginning of the reply
• Avoid superfluous information
• Use modification words to avoid replies beyond the counsellor’s competence
• Use counter questions
To secure the quality of the on-line counselling it is important to be conscious of linguistic and structural aspects and to share best practice experiences between associations providing counselling to youngsters.
Conflict of Interest: None disclosed
Financial Support/Funding: None disclosed
Recorded at 19th WAS World Congress for Sexual Health - Sexual Health & Rights: A Global Challenge Göteborg (Sweden) - June 21 – 25, 2009
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