Table 1 Eligibility criteria
| Â | Inclusion criteria | Exclusion criteria |
|---|---|---|
Language | Papers published in English | Papers not published in English |
Publication date | Papers published after the year 1999 | Papers published prior to the year 2000 |
Population | Studies that recruited patient participants as follows: with an established diagnosis of cancer (of any type) and age > 17 years. Papers that recruited informal caregivers of people with cancer meeting the criteria above | Studies that recruited patient participants as follows: without cancer only, who were diagnosed with cancer during or following the episode of UEC use studied, age < 18 years only. Studies that recruited paid or professional caregivers only |
Help-seeking | Papers that report studies of the decisions made by patients and their informal caregivers to use services (or not) | Papers that report studies of the following: behaviour change interventions, healthcare professionals’ views about patient and informal caregiver decision-making only, or satisfaction with, or experiences of, services only |
Services | Papers that focus on patient use of urgent or emergency healthcare services | Papers that report studies of the following: scheduled healthcare contacts only, use of palliative care services (i.e. hospices) only, or service contacts initiated by professionals only |
Publication type | Papers that report empirical research | Papers that report the following: literature reviews, study protocols, abstracts only, theses and dissertations, discussion papers (i.e. editorials and commentaries), audit and quality improvement, or news and magazine articles |
Study type | Studies that used qualitative methods or studies that used mixed methods and where the qualitative component was used to study help-seeking decisions | Studies that used quantitative methods only or studies that used mixed methods and where the qualitative component was not used to study help-seeking decisions |