Table 2. Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Inclusion criteria:

A controlled study with a psychosocial intervention in at least one arm of the study

A study population of adult patients (⩾18 years of age) with cancer in an advanced stage of the disease (stage IV)

One (or more) dimension(s) of QoL should be at least one of the presented outcome measures

Exclusion criteria:

Studies concerning interventions that were not strictly psychosocial such as complementary therapies

Studies that used a comparison group other than usual care or attentional control group

Studies of which less than 50% of patients had cancer in an advanced stage of the disease