To examine the effectiveness of community mental health nursing interventions.

The sources searched included MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycLIT, CINAHL, RCN Nurse ROM, the Science Citation Index, the Social Science Citation Index, DHSS Data, ASSIA, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, DARE and NHS EED. A manual search of the International Nursing Index was performed, and a community mental health nursing bibliography was examined. The search terms are provided.

Study designs of evaluations included in the review

Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were included.

Specific interventions included in the review

Community mental health nursing interventions; little information is given about the primary studies.

Participants included in the review

Clients with depression and anxiety-based disorders (6 studies); patients in accident and emergency departments (2 studies); problem drinkers (1 study); clients with serious mental health problems (1 study).

Outcomes assessed in the review

With the exception of completeness of follow-up, the authors do not specify the outcomes assessed.

How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?

The authors do not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many of the authors performed the selection.

A 5-point scale based on Cochrane Collaboration guidelines was used to assess the quality of randomisation, whether a power calculation was used, the completeness of follow-up, the length of follow-up, and whether there was blinded assessment of outcomes. The authors do not state how the papers were assessed for quality, or how many of the authors performed the quality assessment.

The authors do not state how the data were extracted for the review, or how many of the authors performed the data extraction.

How were the studies combined?

The studies were combined by a narrative description of their methodologies.

How were differences between studies investigated?

The differences between the studies were investigated narratively.

Ten RCTs were included (no patient numbers are given).

The authors do not present summary results of the interventions; only summaries of the methodological quality of the primary studies are provided.

Cost-effectiveness analyses in primary studies are mentioned without their results being described further.

Very little evidence of the effectiveness of community mental health nursing interventions exists, and the quality of the evidence is questionable.

Despite this review's objectives (and its title), there is actually no assessment of the effectiveness of community mental health nursing. There is little information on outcomes or the primary studies, apart from methodological details. Thus, it appears to be mainly a review of the methodology of existing RCTs in this area. Given the thorough search, it may provide a basis for a systematic review of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of community mental health nursing.

This is a critical abstract of a systematic review that meets the criteria for inclusion on DARE. Each critical abstract contains a brief summary of the review methods, results and conclusions followed by a detailed critical assessment on the reliability of the review and the conclusions drawn.