ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021
The Opportunities and Challenges of the First Three Years of Open Up, an Online Text-Based Counselling Service for Youth and Young Adults.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations between social determinants of health and loneliness trajectories among middle-aged and older adults: a network perspective.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Cost-benefit analysis of a 24/7 text-based online emotional support platform for at-risk youth in Hong Kong.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Benefits, limitations and potential solutions for defining good practices in Online Counselling Chat Services for Youth.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Large language models in adolescent suicide prevention: from language signals to accountable action.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Assessing Heterogeneity in Sentiment Changes in Text-Based Counseling: Latent Class Trajectory Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- A scoping review of digital interventions for the promotion of mental health and prevention of mental health conditions for young people.Oxford open digital health · 2025Review
- Using hidden Markov modelling to reveal in-session stages in text-based counselling.Npj mental health research · 2024Article
- Using Discrete-Event Simulation to Model Web-Based Crisis Counseling Service Operation: Evaluation Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Tracking and Profiling Repeated Users Over Time in Text-Based Counseling: Longitudinal Observational Study With Hierarchical Clustering.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Observational
- Suicide prevention in Hong Kong: pushing boundaries while building bridges.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2024Review
- Efficacy of ChatGPT in Cantonese Sentiment Analysis: Comparative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Phone-Based Text Therapy for Youth Mental Health: Rapid Review.Interactive journal of medical research · 2023Review
- Psychometric properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 among Hong Kong young adults in 2021: Associations with meaning in life and suicidal ideation.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Network-based prediction of the disclosure of ideation about self-harm and suicide in online counseling sessions.Communications medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
22 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We present the opportunities and challenges of Open Up, a free, 24/7 online text-based counselling service to support youth in Hong Kong. The number of youths served more than doubled within the first three years since its inception in 2018 in response to increasing youth suicidality and mental health needs. Good practice models are being developed in order to sustain and further scale up the service. We discuss the structure of the operation, usage pattern and its effectiveness, the use of AI to improve users experience, and the role of volunteer in the operation. We also present the challenges in further enhancing the operation, calling for more research, especially on the identification of the optimal number of users that can be concurrently served by a counsellor, the effective approach to respond to a small percentage of repeated users who has taken up a disproportional volume of service, and the way to optimize the use of big data analytics and AI technology to enhance the service. These advancements will benefit not only Open Up but also similar services across the globe.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.