Research Category: Featured
Using Machine Learning Technology to Measure Changes in Emotional State During Parenting Helpline Calls
Emotional support helplines are a longstanding strategy for supporting parents, but few studies have measured how much these programs work to address negative feelings in parents. Drawing on a sample of 281 helpline calls from parents to the California Parent and Youth Helpline®, the authors analyzed changes in emotions expressed through language, while parents spoke to a counselor. The authors used a sequential explanatory mixed methods design. They worked with a Natural Language Inference (NLI) model, BART, to measure and quantitatively display changes in feelings parents express. They found that 85% of the parents made more positive statements as the call proceeded. The authors tested BART by measuring its rate of agreement with qualitative coding by the authors and against a codex constructed by service users. The authors discuss the implications of this study for addressing parental isolation and how the research methods could be adopted by other helplines.
California Parent and Youth Helpline®
The California Parent and Youth Helpline is operated by Parents Anonymous, Inc.®, a longstanding nonprofit agency dedicated to empowering parents, children, and youth through support groups, mutual support, and parent-led advocacy. All calls begin with the counselor thanking the caller for their willingness to seek help and praising them for their proactive efforts to look out for their child by requesting support. In a typical call, the counselors might start, as needed, by de-escalating the parent’s anxiety, anger, or other negative emotions through validation and mindfulness techniques. The counselors repeatedly express empathy with the parents about the things that they are finding challenging. The counselors also discuss possible solutions with the parent, help the parent to process any feelings they have about the problem, and form a plan for the parents’ next steps in getting help and support. The service is free to anyone in California who is either a parent, a youth, or a child. The Helpline typically receives over 1,000 calls a month from parents and youth in every county in California. In addition, some parents and youth text the Helpline. Demographic information on the callers is not available because the counselors do not do a formal intake with callers. Callers find the service through Google advertisements and from referrals from other governmental and nonprofit agencies (Parents Anonymous, Inc., 2023).
The California Parent and Youth Helpline is staffed by Master’s level counselors, who all have degrees in social work, psychology, counseling, or marriage and family therapy and who are trained in Parents Anonymous’ model. The counselors are supervised by a PsyD-level clinician and receive weekly clinical supervision. Rather than giving advice, the counselors try to support the parents in feeling empowered to craft their own solutions (Parents Anonymous, Inc., 2023).