Descriptive Analysis of Children and Young People's Lived Experiences Using a Helpline Survey in Kyrgyzstan

Background and Purpose: Helplines play a vital role in mental health support by providing immediate, confidential assistance to individuals experiencing distress. In Kyrgyzstan, Helpline #111 has been operating since 2015 under the Ministry of Labour, Social Development and Migration (MLSDM), offering 24/7 service to address the emotional, psychological, and social challenges faced by children and their families throughout the country. The current study aims to descriptively characterize the Helpline’s calls between 2021 and 2024. The following RQs are proposed: (1) What are the demographic patterns of helpline users? (2) How has the volume of calls to the helpline changed over time? (3) What are the most common requests received, and how have these patterns changed over time? (4) How do the reasons for calling differ between adult callers and child/adolescent callers?

Methods: De-identified archival data were obtained from the Helpline’s Supervising Center under the MLSDM that manually registered each call. This included data on calls from 2021 to 2024, which resulted in 9,261 total contacts over a four-year period. Descriptive analysis was conducted with Excel to identify patterns across demographics and call types.

Results: A descriptive analysis of the calls received between 2021 and 2024 showed an interesting picture of the changes characterizing the Helpline over time. Overall, the number of calls received throughout the years remained steady, varying between 2,264 and 2,952, with only one year (2024) receiving less than 2,000 calls (1,461) explained by the data of 9 months collected in 2024. Out of all the calls received in 4 years, the minority (36.7%) were placed by children and adolescents, and the majority of the callers were girls (55.6%). Focusing on the nature of the calls, the data show a consistency across the years with calls related to “provision of social assistance” being the most received, with the lowest percentage of these calls received in 2022 (17%) and the highest percentage of calls received in 2024 (36.8%). The data showed a trend regarding the difference in the type of calls across all the years, where adults made more calls regarding “provision of social assistance” (n=2,323), while minors made more calls about “psychological issues” (n=808) and “behavioral and relationship issues” (n=681). Lastly, consultations and recommendations were given in approximately 70% of the calls, except for 2023 (51.8%).

Conclusions and Implications: Findings highlight distinct patterns that address all four research questions, revealing demographic differences with predominating female callers, stable call volumes across years, “provision of social assistance” consistently ranking as the most common request and differences between adult callers seeking social assistance versus minors predominantly reporting psychological and relationship concerns. These insights support the practical implications of strengthening helpline services by building targeted promotion and awareness for age-appropriate helpline usage, with enhanced psychosocial resources tailored for minors. Future studies should focus on the nuance of the calls received and the different types of recommendations and consultations that were given.