Table 1.

Characteristics of included studies

Study	Country	The original disease	Sample (N)		Sex (F/M)		Age (yr)		Treatment		Duration of study	Follow-up period	Measurement	Outcome
			Intervention	Control	Intervention	Control	Intervention	Control	Intervention	Control
Zang et al. 2014 [33]	China	PTSD	10	10	9/1	8/2	53.5±1.24	56.6±1.47	NET 4 sessions frequency: weekly or biweekly	WLC received the NET-R treatment after a three week waiting period	3 weeks	3 months	HADS	* † ‡ §
													MSPSS
													CIQQ-S
Zang et al. 2013 [34]	China	PTSD	11	11	8/3	9/2	56.64±12.22	54.82±11.59	NET 4 therapy sessions of 60–90 min each, which lasted 2 weeks	WLC after a waiting period (2 weeks)	2 weeks	2 months	HADS	* † ‡ §
													MSPSS
													CIQQ-S
Ertl et al. 2011 [41]	Northern Uganda	PTSD	29	28	16/13	19/9	18.66±3.77	18.32±4.30	NET 8 individual sessions lasted between 90 and 120 min and were scheduled 3 times a week	WLC	-	3, 6, 12 months	CAPS	† ǁ ¶
													MINI
													PSQ
Rocha et al. 2018 [37]	American	TOP	26	67	26/0	67/0	32.3±5.97	33.3±6.66	Cognitive narrative intervention: the manual has four weekly sessions of 60 min each	Usual care	4 weeks	2 months	BDI	* †
													Zung
Vega et al. 2011 [36]	Spain	Oncologic disease	39	33	34/15	24/9	53.2±9.5	56±10.8	NT plus escitalopram: the therapy was carried out individually during 12–45 min weekly sessions	Escitalopram plus usual care: escitalopram (10–20 mg QD) plus usual care	-	6 months	HADS-D	†
Alghamdi et al. 2015 [40]	Saudi Arabia	PTSD	17	17	0/17	0/17	28.7±4.1	32.2±6.23	NET 4 therapy sessions of 60–90 min each, which lasted 3 weeks	WLC after 3 weeks waiting period	3 weeks	3 weeks	HADS	* †
Li et al. 2018 [43]	China	Kidney cancer	60	60	31/29	25/35	54.67±2.1	52.67±3.8	Narrative nursing+usual care: continuous intervention for 4 weeks, once a week, about 45–60 min each time, telephone visit once a week	Usual care: diagnosis	4 weeks	4 weeks	PHQ-9	* †
										- evaluation			GAD-7
										- personalized psychological stem
										- telephone follow
										- up
Salloum et al. 2012 [35]	US	PTSD	37	32	19/18	12/21	9.6±1.52	10.7±1.52	Narrative restorative totol 10 sessions, every session approximately 45 min	Usual care	-	Post, 3, 12 month	MFQ-C	† ‡
													MSPSS
Wise et al. 2018 [39]	US	Advanced cancer	49	37	40/9	28/9	57±8.5	57±9.1	Narritive interview miLivingStory, the treatment condition, three components	Usual care miOwnResources, the ‘‘control’’ website, contained the miLivingStory cancer information, and support, but no story tips		2, 4 months	POMS-SF	* †
Lloyd-Williams et al. 2018 [38]	England	Moderate to severe depression	33	24	33/9	17/7	66.2	63.4	Narrative intervention in addition to usual care lasting from 25 to 60 min	Usual care		2, 4, 6 weeks	PHQ-9	†
Zong et al. 2017 [42]	China	Advanced lung cancer	62	62	25/37	26/36	55.29±12.03	57.82±10.96	Narration medicine	Routine perioperative Care			SAS	* †
													SDS

^*anxiety;

^†depression;

^‡social support;

^§negative changes;

^ǁguilty;

^¶stigam.

PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder; NET, narrative exposure therapy; WLC, waiting list control; NET-R, narrative exposure therapy revise; HADS, hospital anxiety and depression scale; MSPSS, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Supply; CiQQ-S, The Short Form of the Changes in Outlook Questionnaire; CAPS, the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale; MINI, Mini international Neuropsychiatrica; PSQ, the Perceived Stigmatization Questionnaire; TOP, termination of pregnancy; BDI, the Beck Depression Inventory; Zung, Zung Self Rating Depression Scale; NT, narrative therapy; HADS-D, hospital anxiety and depression scale-depression; PHQ-9, Patient Health Questionnaire; GAD-7, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7; MFQ-C, Mentoring Functions Questionnaire; POMS-SF, Short form of the Profile of Mood States; SAS, Zung’s Self-Rating Anxiety Scale; SDS, Zung’s Self-Rating Depression Scale