Competency-Based Training and Assessment of Listening Skills: A Waitlist-Controlled Study in European Telephone Emergency Services

Helplines are an essential part of suicide prevention and emotional support services in various health care settings. Assistance is usually provided by paraprofessional counsellors who require specialised student training to meet the needs of callers. Melinda Hal (Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Learning Research) and her colleagues involved in this research project set out to develop a competency-based training course in listening comprehension for telephone counsellors in four European Union countries (Germany, Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands). 

The English-language study summarising the results has been published in the international journal Clinical Psychology in Europe and is available here.