Depression stigma and management of suicidal callers: a cross-sectional survey of crisis hotline counselors

BACKGROUND: Crisis hotlines play a key role in suicide prevention worldwide following different approaches regarding risk assessment and management of suicidality. This is to our knowledge the first study investigating depression stigma in crisis hotline counselors. The association between stigma and self-rated knowledge and their exploration of suicide risk and consecutive management of suicidal callers is being investigated. METHODS: Data on depression stigma, self-rated knowledge, self-reported exploration and management of suicidality was collected from 893 counselors working for the German crisis hotline. Stigma in counselors had been compared to matched population sample (1002). RESULTS: Crisis hotline counselors reported significantly lower depression stigma compared to the general population. Depression stigma and age associations differed in both samples. The reported exploration of suicide risk in callers differed depending on the self-rated knowledge about suicidality and depending on the personal depression stigma, but not the reported consecutive management. CONCLUSION: Compared to the general population, crisis hotline counselors seem to have fewer stigmatizing attitudes toward depression. Attitudes and self-rated knowledge seem to influence the confidence in counselors regarding the exploration of suicidal callers, but not the consecutive management. The results indicate that a profound training and hands-on information about depression and suicide risk seem to be essential.