Anonymous: the problems, dilemmas and desires of Slovenian adolescents in online counselling

Abstract

Introduction: Online counselling represents a new medium for finding health information. The aim of the research is to determine the importance of analysis of adolescents' issues in order to understand their problems, needs and desires. Methods: In 2012 the system for the classification of questions by the type of problem was introduced. In relation to the contents the questions were first sorted to the parent category then followed by the categorization according to the subject matter. The calculation comprised the portions, averages and quartiles, and in some cases even Cramer's V coefficients. The analysis covered the entire defined population (3,257 coded questions). Results: Most of the users are girls (76 %), the most representative group encompasses adolescents aged between 14 and 17 years (57 %). Most questions were grouped into the categories Sexuality and sexual health (24 %), Relationships (23 %) and Body (20 %). The length of posts increases with the age of the user (Cr's V = 0.18), but differs by the gender (a higher proportion of longer questions (Cr's V = 0.15) were posted by girls) and the themes (Cr's V = 0.31). Discussion and conclusion: The categorizing of questions is suitable for the identification and analysis of adolescents' problems, needs and desires. Regular categorisation of questions with analysis will serve as a useful research tool for youth work.

Keywords

• online counselling
• online questions
• coding
• problem typology
• mental health