Who Is Calling: A Change in the Profile of the Callers of a Crisis Phone Line During the First Three Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic

AIMS: ‘Mental Health Answers’ [Salud Mental Responde] is a Crisis Telephone Line that was developed during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is also a Point of Entry to Mental Health services, providing assisted referrals to the appropriate level of care. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the profile of the callers to the line during the first three waves of COVID-19. METHODS: Retrospective case analysis of calls made to the telephone line throughout the different COVID-19 waves under study. For this analysis, the time frame for the first three waves was as follows. First wave: from 1 August to 30 of November 2020; second wave: 15 of March to 30 of July 2021; third wave: from 20 of December 2021 to 25 January 2022. RESULTS: The first wave lasted 122 days. 4,601 calls were recorded, 27 calls were discarded for missing data. Women's mean age 51.79, SD 17.3, n = 3355. Men's mean age 43.29, SD 15.52, n = 1219. Significant differences were found in age, being men younger (T=−15.764, p < 0.000). Women made the majority of calls (72.9%). Fear and anxiety represented 45.1% of calls, depression 27.3% and psychosis 9%. The second wave lasted 138 days and there were 4051 calls. Again, most of calls were made by women (71.5%). There were significant differences in age, being men younger (T = 14.450, p < 0.000). Women's mean age 46.68, SD = 18.72, n = 2872; men's mean age 38.05, SD = 16.34, n = 1138. The three most common detected problems were fear and anxiety 53.3%, depression 14.9% and psychosis 18.3%. The third wave lasted 36 days; it had 1117 calls. Most calls made by women, 70.5%. Men were younger and this difference was significant (women's mean age 46.09, men's mean age 42.54; T = 3.233, p = 0.001). Problems detected, fear and anxiety 37.6%, depression 4.5% and psychosis 32.7%. CONCLUSION: There was a change in the caller profile throughout the studied period, the callers from the first wave were older than the ones from the second and third waves. There was a change in the motivation to call, the most noticeable changes the drop in the number of calls related to depression (from 27.3% to 4.5%) and the increase in calls related to psychotic problems (from 9% to 32.7%). This last change might be related to the shift in the use of the Phoneline, from a Crisis Line to a Point of Entry to Mental Health Services.