Table 1.

Characteristics of included studies

References	Year	Country	Study design	N	Gender	Mean age	Diagnosis	Online, rare or rural?	Outcomes
Akers et al. [27]	2021	UK	Qualitative	11	100% male	67	Penile cancer	Rare cancers	Loneliness
Bender et al. [28]	2022	Canada	Quasi-experimental	34	Not reported	Not reported	Prostate cancer	Online or telephone	Anxiety, depression, quality of life, perceived social support
Canella et al. [29]	2023	Switzerland	Mixed methods	165	24% male	44.8	Mixed	Online or telephone. Included rare cancer patients	Coping
Changrani et al. [30]	2008	United States	Randomised controlled trial	68	0% male	46.8	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Depression, quality of life, personal growth
Crane-Okada et al. [31]	2012	United States	Randomised controlled trial	142	0% male	61.8	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Anxiety, coping, perceived social support
Gotay et al. [32]	2007	United States	Randomised controlled trial	305	0% male	Not reported	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Depression, distress
Harmon et al. [33]	2021	United States	Cross-sectional observational	102	0% male	59.2	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Anxiety, coping
Hirayama et al. [34]	2022	Japan	Cross-sectional observational	47	57% male	Not reported	Mixed	Online or telephone. Included rare cancer patients	Coping
Houts et al. [35]	1986	United States	Randomised controlled trial	32	0% male	49.8	Gynaecologic	Online or telephone. Included rare cancer patients	Depression, distress
Hoybye et al. [36]	2010	Denmark	Randomised controlled trial	794	11% male	54.1	Mixed	Online or telephone. Included rare cancer patients	Depression, distress
Kaal et al. [37]	2018	Netherlands	Cross-sectional observational	66	62% male	29.8	Mixed	Online or telephone. Included rare cancer patients	Loneliness
Klemm [38]	2012	United States	Longitudinal	50	0% male	52.2	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Depression
Kosugi et al. [39]	2021	Japan	Cross-sectional observational	334	20% male	43.1	Mixed	Online or telephone. Included rare cancer patients	Loneliness
Lepore et al. [40, 41]1	2019	United States	Randomised controlled trial	183	0% male	52.3	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Anxiety, depression, distress
Lieberman and Lepore [42]	2017	United States	Quasi-experimental	370	0% male	46.2	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Depression
Osei et al. [43]	2013	United States	Randomised controlled trial	40	100% male	67.2	Prostate cancer	Online or telephone	Quality of life
Salzer et al. [44]	2010	United States	Randomised controlled trial	78	0% male	Not reported	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Distress, quality of life
Sansom-Daly et al. [45]	2021	Australia	Randomised controlled trial	40	48% male	20.6	Mixed	Online or telephone Included 30% living in regional locations. Included rare cancer patients	Anxiety, coping, depression
Setoyama, Yamazaki and Namayama [46]	2011	Japan	Cross-sectional observational	220	0% male	Not reported	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Anxiety, depression
Toija et al. [47]	2019	Finland	Randomised controlled trial	260	0% male	60	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Quality of life
van Erp et al. [48]	2023	Netherlands	Quasi-experimental	10	40% male	25.1	Mixed	Online or telephone. Included rare cancer patients	Distress, quality of life
Vilhauer, McClintock and Matthews [49]	2010	United States	Randomised controlled trial	30	0% male	52.7	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Depression, wellbeing
Winzelberg et al. [50]	2003	United States	Randomised controlled trial	72	0% male	49.5	Breast cancer	Online or telephone	Anxiety, depression, PTSD, stress

¹Data merged from two separate papers with the same sample