Assessing Suicide Risk in Arabic Crisis Helpline Calls: A Comparison of Arabic and English Large Language Models

Abstract

Crisis helplines assess suicide risk through structured interviews, a process that is slow and dependent on operator training and workload. Natural language processing could support risk assessment and call prioritization, but almost no work addresses Arabic-language helpline calls or operates within the privacy constraints of real helpline data. We analysed de-identified transcripts from Lebanon's National Lifeline for Emotional Support and Suicide Prevention. Audio never left the helpline: cal

Categories

@misc{ma2026assessing,
  title = {{Assessing Suicide Risk in Arabic Crisis Helpline Calls: A Comparison of Arabic and English Large Language Models}},
  author = {Linhai Ma and Rita El Hachem and Mahatab El Hajj and Lilian Ghandour and Samah Fodeh},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  eprint = {2609.00191},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.00191}
}