Assessing Heterogeneity in Sentiment Changes in Text-Based Counseling: Latent Class Trajectory Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Online text-based counseling services are becoming increasingly popular. However, their text-based nature and anonymity pose challenges in tracking and understanding shifts in help-seekers' emotional experience within a session. These characteristics make it difficult for service providers to tailor interventions to individual needs, potentially diminishing service effectiveness and user satisfaction.

Objective

This study aimed to identify distinct within-session sentiment trajectories among help-seekers in online text-based counseling and examine key variables associated with trajectory membership.

Methods

A total of 6207 counseling sessions were randomly extracted from an online text-based counseling service in Hong Kong. A latent class trajectory analysi

SUBMITTER: Fu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12413188 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature