Objective  To examine the setting-up and utilization of psychological assistance hotlines up to 2022 in the mainland of China for the improvement of psychological hotline service.

  Methods  Using a questionnaire developed by professionals of National Mental Health Program Office, we conducted a survey among public psychiatric medical facilities and mental health institutions in 31 provincial level administrative divisions of the mainland of China, and monthly information on the number of psychological assistance hotlines established, service hours, receivers, consultants, and callers during 2022 were collected and analyzed. Descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis test were used in data analyses.

  Results  During 2022 in the mainland of China, totally 650 psychological assistance hotlines were setup mainly by public psychiatric medical facilities and mental health institutions and 68.3% of the hotlines could provide 7-day/24-hour service. For the hotlines established, the total number of receivers was 1 288 ( averagely 0.9 for per 1 000 000 population) and that of consultants engaged in the hotline service was 8 152 (averagely 5.8 for per 1 000 000 population); the average number of calls per hotline was 1 668; the number of calls (2 656) received by the hotlines in the eastern economic region was higher than that in the central (1 765) and western economic regions (800) (H = 6.159, P < 0.05), and the number of calls (10 665) received by the hotlines at province-level administrative regions was higher than that at municipal (1 198) and district/county-level regions (426) (H = 30.417, P < 0.01).

  Conclusion  The psychological assistance hotline was one of appropriate resources for the public to seek mental health service and has been highly utilized, and the hotline service needs to be improved in the mainland of China.