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Telephone support for parenting: an evaluation of Parentline Plus
Author(s) -
Boddy Janet,
Smith Marjorie,
Simon Antonia
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1002/chi.847
Subject(s) - helpline , government (linguistics) , service (business) , hotline , medical education , psychology , telephone interview , telephone number , nursing , medicine , business , sociology , engineering , computer science , telecommunications , marketing , emergency medicine , philosophy , linguistics , social science , computer network
Recent Government policy has advocated universal support services for parents, including a national telephone helpline (for example, Department for Education and Skills, 2003). The Home Office funded just such a helpline—Parentline Plus—as part of the Supporting Families initiative. The efficiency and effectiveness of this service in supporting parents were evaluated through secondary analysis of call data, assessment of taped calls, and interviews with callers. The helpline offers anonymous non‐stigmatising support to a growing number of callers, and most callers interviewed valued highly the service they received. Many had significant support needs that were not met by other forms of service provision.