Telenursing in mental health: effect on anxiety symptoms and alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study was non-randomized and had no control group, so the observed score changes cannot be attributed confidently to the telephone interventions. Follow-up was incomplete: 351 of 773 participants in the anxiety intervention and 41 of 260 participants in the alcohol intervention completed the study. The anxiety improvement was not significant at the 7-day follow-up, so the effect may not last. The sample came from four primary care services in São Paulo and was a convenience sample, so it may not represent other settings. People already receiving treatment for alcohol or mental disorders, or recent psychotherapy or counselling, were excluded, so the findings may not apply to patients already in mental health care. Participants with both anxiety and alcohol risk received the anxiety intervention first and the alcohol intervention one week later, so the separate contribution of each intervention in those participants cannot be fully separated. The authors note that telephone contact may make it harder to build trust and that women may underreport alcohol use.

Funded in part by CAPES (Finance Code 001, Brazil) and supported by FAPESP grant 2021/12471-4. The paper gives no additional conflict of interest statement.

Do not conclude that telephone nursing calls are proven to reduce anxiety or alcohol use. The study had no control group, many participants dropped out, and anxiety scores were not significantly different at the 7-day follow-up.