Table 1.

Systematic review methodology

Methods topics	Description	Rationale
Eligibility Criteria
Years	All	To assess change in patterns of reporting over time.
Language	English only	Study authors were only fluent in English.
Publication status	Peer reviewed journals	Peer review set minimum criteria for quality, journals used as primary medium for communication of information.
Information sources
Databases	PUBMED, PSYCINFO, CINAHL, and SOCIOLOGICAL ABSRACTS	Multiple databases were selected to provide access to a breadth of journals.
References	Review of reference sections	Provided additional articles not found in database searches.
Search	PUBMED example 1: "work+care+burden+pediatric" 2: "caregiving+coping+child+chronic" 3: "caring+children+chronic+disease+parents" 4: "caregivers+role+strain+child"	Multiple searches using different terms revealed different journal articles to review.
Study selection	See figure 1
Data collection process	Data extracted from 30 journal articles chosen in random order, and 15 additional articles purposefully selected to increase diversity of sample	Used to prevent bias while at the same time sampling from entire population of articles.
Data items	See Tables 3 and 4	Code list generated from qualitative methods based on Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin 1987).
Summary measures	See Tables 3 and 4	Categories based on code list.
Synthesis of results	Theoretical model used to organize codes/categories	Theoretical model based on data as well as theories of work, coping, and complex systems.
Risk of bias across studies	"Medicalization" of work of care in peer review journals, exclusion of lay literature	Journal audience is comprised of medical and research personnel.