Qualitative Health Communication

Call for papers: 

Special Issue: Helpline Communication in Healthcare, Social Work, and Civil Society

People facing various difficult life situations, crises, or vulnerabilities have a range of mediated options for seeking help and support. These include emergency services, teleconsultations within traditional healthcare, and mediated interactions with social workers and civil society organizations, such as helplines, which offer various forms of anonymous support. This special issue of Qualitative Health Communication invites contributions that explore helpline communication in its broadest sense and across different organizational contexts.

By “helpline”, we understand services that provide mediated, low-threshold and free support to individuals navigating difficult life situations, operating across a range of media — telephone, chat, email, SMS, and beyond. Within the health domain, helplines are typically operated either by NGOs connecting individuals with specific concerns to trained professionals, volunteers, or peers, or by public sector institutions such as emergency services within hospital or social care settings. “Helpline communication” thus includes any mediated interaction between users and responders involved in providing help to these users, as well as the broader communicative practices, policies, and technologies that shape such interactions.

We are particularly interested in contributions that engage critically and reflexively with the communicative dimensions of helpline work — whether at the level of individual interaction, organizational practice, or societal discourse. As helplines increasingly integrate digital technologies, serve diverse and multilingual populations, and navigate complex ethical terrain, qualitative approaches are uniquely positioned to illuminate the lived experiences, relational dynamics, and institutional forces at play.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• Helpline communication for emergency services
• Helplines in civil society
• Communicative norms and expectations in helpline work
• The language and imagery of helpline communication
• Synchronous and asynchronous communication in helpline work
• Helplines as spaces for mental health support, therapy, or health coaching
• User and patient perceptions and experiences of helpline use
• The narrative and discursive construction of trust, authority, or empathy in helpline interactions
• Ethical tensions in helpline communication
• Institutional discourses and policies shaping communicative practices in helplines
• Helplines in multilingual and multicultural health contexts
• Training helpline responders in communication skills
• The use of AI, machine learning, or other technologies in helpline communication
• Communicating with frequent users or specific user segments

We welcome articles that deal with one or some of the above topics as well as other topics related to helpline communication.

Submission types: We welcome original research articles, literature reviews, conceptual papers, theoretical contributions, and methodological pieces. All submissions must have a strong qualitative focus and engage with questions relevant to health communication. Interdisciplinary perspectives are encouraged.

Guest editors

Trine Natasja Sindahl, Aarhus University, Denmark
Tine Bennedsen Gehrt, Aarhus University and Central Denmark Region, Denmark
Carsten Stage, Aarhus University, Denmark

Timeline

• Call for papers published: 1 June 2026
• Brief abstract by mail: 1 September 2026
• Notification: 15 September 2026
• Manuscript submission: 15 December 2026
• Peer review process: 15 December 2026 - 1 February 2027
• Revision process: 1 February - 10 March 2027
• Final decision and notification: 1 April 2027
• Copyediting: 1 April - 15 May 2027
• Publication of the special issue: May 2027

Submission Guidelines

Interested contributors are invited to send a brief abstract (100-200 words) addressing the research topic, the helpline, data and the qualitative methods applied by 1 September 2026 to the journal’s email address (qhc-journal@au.dk). Authors will receive notification of whether their potential contribution is considered within the scope of the special issue by 15 September 2026. Manuscripts are due by 15 December 2026.

Full manuscript submissions should be submitted through the journal's online submission system. Articles will go through the ordinary peer review process. Please indicate in the cover letter that your submission is intended for the special issue on “Helpline Communication”. Authors should adhere to the journal's author guidelines (https://tidsskrift.dk/qhc/about/submissions).