Table 2.

Characteristics of included studies

Reference	Study design (quality assessment, %)	Platform	Social media approach	Social media application	Ethical considerations	Data collection
						Data extraction tool	Searching key terms	Number of posts/videos/articles
Salmi et al (2020)44	Qualitative study (85)	Twitter	As a secondary data source	To engage stakeholders to understand their experiences or thoughts	‘Non-Human Subjects Research’ determined by the Institution Review Board.	Symplur	#BTSM, #HPM	772 tweets
Padmanabhan et al (2021)45	Cross-sectional study (85)	Twitter	As a secondary data source	To engage stakeholders to understand their experiences or thoughts and and to investigate surveillance on the frequency, trend and features of public conversation	Exempt from ethical review determined by the Institution Review Board.	Symplur Signals	#palliativeCare	182 661 tweets
Cutshall et al (2020)57	Qualitative methods (65)	Twitter	As a secondary data source	To engage stakeholders to understand their experiences or thoughts	Not Human Subjects Research determined by the institutional review board.	Manually collected	#BTSM	536 tweets
Taylor and Pagliari (2018)49	Qualitative study (80)	Twitter	As a secondary data source	To engage stakeholders to understand their experiences or thoughts	Ethics approval was provided by the Institutional Review Board. Written agreement was sought and obtained.	Manually collected	@GrangerKate	550 tweets
Claudio et al (2018)50	Cross-sectional study (75)	YouTube, Facebook and Twitter	As a secondary data source	To explore the quality and features of online resources	Exempt from ethical review determined by the institutional review board.	Manually collected	“palliative care” (YouTube), “#palliativecare”, “#pallcare”, and “#palcare” (Twitter)	25 tweets, 25 Facebook, 10 videos
Mitchell et al (2017)58	Mix-method study (70)	YouTube	As a secondary data source	To explore the quality and features of online resources	Not reported	Manually collected	‘Advance Care Directive’ OR ‘ACP’ OR ‘Advance Care Plan’	42 videos
Nwosu et al (2015)15	Retrospective analysis (quantitative study) (83)	Twitter	As a secondary data source	To investigate surveillance on the frequency, trend and features of public conversation	Non-human subjects, therefore ethics committee approval was not deemed to be necessary.	TopsyPro	#hpm #hpmglobal #eolc #Hospice care Liverpool care pathway	683 500 tweets
Zhao et al (2020)13	Quantitative study (64)	Twitter	As a secondary data source	To investigate surveillance on the frequency, trend and features of public conversation	Not reported	Twitter API	“palliative care” and “palliative medicine” etc.	371 880 tweets
Buis (2008)46	Qualitative content analysis (90)	Yahoo!	As a secondary data source	To explore the quality and features of online resources	Was approved by a university institutional review board and adhered to guidelines for ethical research.	Manually collected	hospice	443 posts
Singh et al (2021)51	Qualitative content analysis (75)	Twitter	As a secondary data source	To engage stakeholders to understand their experiences or thoughts	Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional ethics committee. Consent was waived.	Manually collected	#pallicovid and #COVID-19, palliative care OR COVID-19 OR death OR dying	33 online articles and blogs
Guidry and Benotsch (2019)52	Mix-method study (80)	Pinterest	As a secondary data source	To investigate surveillance on the frequency, trend and features of public conversation	Institutional review board approval was not required.	Manually collected	Chronic Pain	502 pins
Patel et al (2022)53	Mixed-method study (75)	Twitter	As a secondary data source	To investigate surveillance on the frequency, trend and features of public conversation	Institutional review board approval was not required.	Twitter API	“DNR”, “DNI”,“advance directives,” “ECMO,” “CPR,” “dialysis,” and “ventilation,” “advance directives” etc.	202 585 tweets about LSIs and 67 162 tweets about ACP
Easwar et al (2022)54	Mixed-method study (74)	TikTok	As a secondary data source	To explore the quality and features of online resources	Not reported	Manually collected	‘palliative.’	146 videos
Lattimer et al (2022)59	Mixed-method study (65)	Twitter	As a secondary data source	To investigate surveillance on the frequency, trend and features of public conversation	Not reported	Twitter API	#nhdd, #advancecareplan, and #goalsofcare, healthcare decision day, advance care plan, goals of care.	9713 tweets
Liu et al (2019)12	Review (73)	YouTube	As a secondary data source	To explore the quality and features of online resources	Institutional review board approval was not required.	Manually collected	palliative care	84 videos
Wittenberg-Lyle et al (2014)55	Review (75)	YouTube	As a secondary data source	To explore the quality and features of online resources	Not reported	Manually collected	pain and cancer; pain and hospice; pain and PC palliative care	43 videos
Levy et al (2019)47	Experimental study (82)	Pixstori	As an information sharing platform	To deliver intervention	Was approved by the institutional review board. Written consent and media waiver were obtained.	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Taubert et al (2018)48	Mixed-method design (88)	YouTube, Facebook and Twitter	As an information sharing platform	For promotion, education and training	No ethics approval was required. Consent and agreement were obtained.	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Akard et al (2015)10	Survey (quantitative study) (79)	Facebook	As an information sharing platform	To enhance recruitment opportunities	Was approved by the institutional review board. Consent was obtained online.	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Biswas et al (2021)61	Cross-sectional study (75)	Not reported	As an information sharing platform	To enhance recruitment opportunities	Was approved by the ethical review committee. Informed consent was obtained.	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable
Beringer et al (2017)60	Qualitative methodology (45)	Self-built platform	As an information sharing platform	For promotion, education and training	Not reported	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable

API, application programming interface.