Number of papers included in the current synthesis and original review
| Review question | Number of papers in the current review answering each research question and overall WoE (D) scores | Number of papers in original review23 answering each research question and overall WoE (D) scores* |
| What is current practice? | 21 papers: 6 high, 11 medium and 4 low WoE (D) scores | 26 papers: 3 high, 16 medium and 7 low WoE (D) scores |
| What are the attitudes of patients? | 1 paper: high WoE (D) score | No papers on patient views or experiences. 2 papers refer to practitioner interpretations of patient views: 1 medium and 1 low overall WOE (D) scores |
| What are the attitudes of family caregivers? | 9 papers: 2 high, 5 medium and 2 low WoE (D) scores | 5 papers: 2 medium and 3 low overall WoE (D) scores |
| What are the attitudes of community healthcare professionals? | 15 papers: 5 high, 8 medium and 2 low WoE (D) scores | 21 papers: 3 high, 13 medium and 5 low overall WoE (D) scores |
| What is its impact on patient comfort and symptom control? | 2 papers: 1 high and 1 medium WoE (D) scores | 3 papers: 2 medium and 1 low overall WoE (D) scores |
| Is it cost-effective? | 3 papers: 3 medium WoE (D) scores | 9 papers: 6 medium and 3 low overall WoE (D) scores |
*Studies from the original review23 were not included in the results and narrative synthesis: they are detailed in the table to give an overview of the overall evidence base.
WoE, Weight of Evidence.