Inclusion and exclusion criteria
| Inclusion criteria | Exclusion criteria |
|---|---|
| Original research using and reporting qualitative methodologies | Study does not report qualitative methods for data collection and analysis |
| English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Italian | Any other language |
| Adult patients (aged 18+) with a life-limiting diagnosis and palliative care needs and/or their family caregivers being cared for at home | Participants other than adult patients and/or their family caregivers (eg, voluntary caregivers) |
| Specialist or intermediate palliative care provided at home* | Generalist home care (including end-of-life home care), intervention not sufficiently described, or experiences with specific components of care |
| Relevant findings for the identification of key components shaping the experiences of participants, the experiences shaped by these key components and mechanisms of action explaining these relationships | Findings not related to the objectives of the review, or insufficiently informative results |
*According to the criteria used by Gomes et al 8 to define home palliative care and distinguish between specialist and intermediate services (presented in an online supplementary file).