Table 1.

Characteristics of studies included in the systematic review (controlled studies)

Study ID	Country	Study design	Sample size	Population	Study arms		Implementation frequency, times of Balint	Study duration (months)	Risk of bias
					Experimental group	Control group
[12]	China	RCT	24	Clinical medical students	Balint group	None	Once every two weeks, 10	5	some concerns
[13]	China	RCT	60	Clinical medical students	Balint group	None	Weekly, 20	5	some concerns
[14]	China	RCT	20	Resident doctors	Balint group	None	Once every two weeks, 8	4	some concerns
[15]	China	RCT	120	Clinical medical students	Balint group	None	Weekly, 4	1	some concerns
[16]	China	RCT	60	Resident doctors	Balint group	None	Once or twice every week, 4	Not reported	some concerns
[17]	China	RCT	74	Resident doctors	Miller pyramid theory + Balint group	None	Once every two weeks, not reported	Not reported	some concerns
[18]	China	RCT	39	Clinical medical students	Balint group	Consolation control group: propaganda and education; Blank control group: none	Weekly, 8	2	some concerns
[7]	France	RCT	362	Clinical medical students	Group 1: Balint group	Group 2: narrative medicine; Group 3: none	Weekly, 7	3	low risk
[19]	China	RCT	120	Physicians, nurses	Balint group + Music therapy	Music therapy	Weekly, 4	1	some concerns
[20]	China	RCT	16	Resident doctors	Balint group	Exercise prescription intervention	Once every two weeks, 6	3	some concerns
[21]	China	RCT	60	Physicians, nurses	Balint group	None	Once every two months, 12	24	some concerns
[22]	China	RCT	36	Physicians, nurses	Balint group	Consolation control group: network psychological self-help intervention; Blank control group: none	Weekly, 6	1.5	some concerns
[23]	USA	RCT	14	Resident doctors	Balint group + Behavioral health curriculum	Behavioral health curriculum	Once every two weeks, 18	9	some concerns
[24]	USA	RCT	16	Resident doctors	Balint group	None	Once every two weeks, 12	6	some concerns
[25]	China	RCT	90	Clinical medical students	Group 1: Balint group	Group 2: publicity and education; Group 3: doctor–patient relationship learning	Once every two weeks, 12	6	some concerns
[26]	China	RCT	60	Clinical medical students	Balint group	None	Monthly, 6	6	some concerns
[27]	UK	RCT	30	Clinical medical students	Group 1: Balint group	Group 2: psychotherapy program; Group 3: none	Weekly, 12	3	some concerns
[28]	China	RCT	20	Physicians	Balint group	None	Not reported	Not reported	some concerns
[29]	Israel	RCT	34	Physicians	a breaking bad news (BBN) training program	Balint group	Not reported	Not reported	high risk
[30]	China	RCT	36	Resident doctors	Balint group	None	Not reported, 10	6	some concerns
[31]	France	RCT	163	Clinical medical students	Balint group	None	Weekly, 10	5	some concerns
[32]	France	RCT	299	Clinical medical students	Balint group	None	Weekly, 7	over 2 months	low risk
[33]	China	RCT	30	Clinical medical students	Balint group	None	Weekly, 10	2.5	some concerns
[34]	China	RCT	40	Resident doctors	Balint group	None	Once every week or every two weeks, not reported	4.5	some concerns
[35]	China	RCT	60	Resident doctors	Balint group + Doctor–patient communication course	Doctor–patient communication course	Not reported,2	Not reported	some concerns
[36]	China	Cluster	56	Resident doctors	Balint group	None	Twice every week, 8	4	high risk
[37]	China	Cluster	58	Clinical medical students	Balint group + Doctor–patient relationship learning	Doctor–patient relationship learning	Not reported, 4	Not reported	some concerns
[38]	USA	Crossover	28	Clinical medical students	Balint group (in the first 6 months)	Balint group (in the next 6 months)	Once every two weeks, 12	6	some concerns