Abstract
Associations between reported call reasons and end of call disposition at a Wisconsin suicide crisis hotline
Introduction
Suicide is a major public health concern, and remains one of the leading causes of death in the United States. From 1999 to 2016, the state of Wisconsin saw an increase in the rate of suicides by 25.8%. Federal efforts to address mental health crises include the launch of 988 in 2022, a three-digit dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Crisis hotlines are an upstream prevention service that provide contacters who are experiencing emotional distress or suicidal thoughts with immediate support via phone, text, or chat. Responders to contacts aim to reduce psychological distress and risk of suicide through the offering of coping strategies and emotional support, facilitate treatment referrals and engagement in other care, and in some cases engage emergency services. Previous evidence suggests that hotlines are an effective intervention for reducing suicidal ideation and resolving crises in callers, though there is little information regarding the circumstances under which different referrals are provided to callers.
Objective
I plan to examine the relationship between different caller characteristics and their referral to different services by the conclusion of their contact with a Wisconsin based suicide crisis hotline center. This will be done through evaluating associations between callers’ reasons for contacting the line and recorded risk levels with recorded end of call referrals of different services, with an emphasis on emergency rescue and welfare checks as outcomes of interest.
Design
Cross-sectional analysis of a dataset of ~160,000 de-identified call records from a Wisconsin based crisis center collected between January 2023 and January 2026. Calls marked by crisis line counselors as accidental use, misuse, or lasting less than one minute will be excluded. Possible consideration of limiting to cases marked as first time callers (~42,000 records).
Main Outcomes and Measures
Counselor recorded outcomes of calls, with a focus on emergency rescue contact and welfare check requests. Final call disposition is a categorical variable with a single response denoting the final outcome or referral occurring during an interaction.
