Table 3. Overview of the mental health studies.

Study	Setting	Participants	Intervention (I)	Control (C)	Outcomes (O)	Results
Eaton1995[30]	Veteran Administration Hospital Centre HIV/AIDS program, US.	MaleHIV-positiveveterans.	Content: Psychosocial structured telephone calls. Duration: weekly for 16 consecutive weeks, beginning the fourth week following the initial baseline assessment. Delivered by: trained ‘caring caller’. N: 9.	Group onlyreceiving theoutcome assessments.N: 8.	O.1) Rate of change in the General Severity Index of the Brief Symptom Inventory (psychosocial symptoms). O.2) General Severity Index mean change score. Time points: Baseline (two baseline assessments: at weeks one and three) and once a month for four months at weeks seven, 11, 15 and 19.	O.1) No significant difference between I and C (P = 0.2). O.2) I: 5.89 (SD = 4.97), C: 0.93 (SD = 5.82). Significant difference between I and C (P<0.05).
Heckman2007[31]	27 AIDS service organisationsin 13 statesof the US.	People livingwith HIVin ruralareas.	Content: Two interventions delivered by teleconference calls with six to eight participants per group. I.1) Coping improvement intervention. I.2) Information support intervention. Duration: eight weekly group sessions, 90 minutes each. Delivered by: I.1 Masters or PhD-level clinicians; I.2 Nurse practitioners or social workers. N.I.1: 108, N.I.2: 84.	Usual carewith access toall services.N: 107.	O.1) BDI. O.2) Symptom Checklist-90 revised. O.3) Life stressor burden Scale. O.4) PSRS, support from friends. O.5) PSRS, support from family. O.6) Barriers to Care Scale. O.7) Social well-being. O.8) Emotional well-being. O.9) Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (all O are scores). Time points: baseline, post-intervention, four months and eight months follow-up.	O.4) Significant difference between I.2 and C at four months (P<0.04) and eight months (P<0.05). O.6) Significant difference between I.2 and C at four months (P<0.05). O.1) O.2) O.3) O.5) O.7) O.8) O.9) No significant differences between I1, I2 and C.
Stein2007[32]	Two AIDS programclinics, Rhode IslandHospital, US.	Depressedpeople livingwith HIV.	Content: Family Intervention Telephone Tracking (with informal caregivers) by telephone calls. Duration: Weeks one to six, eight, ten, 12, 14, 18 and 22 following the initial phone call (maximum of 12 calls), before six-months interview. Delivered by: Eight therapists. N: 89.	Group onlyreceiving theoutcome assessments.N: 88.	O.1) BDI mean change score. O.2) Relative BDI reduction ≥50%. O.3) Categorical BDI improvement. O.4) BDI <10. O.5) Use of psychiatric medications. O.6) Mental and physical function subscales of the Short Form-36 mean change score. Time points: Baseline and six months after enrolment (no follow-up).	O.1) - O.6) no significant differences between I and C.
Ransom2008[33]	AIDS serviceorganisationsin ten statesof the US.	Depressedpeople livingwith HIVin ruralareas.	Content: Brief interpersonal therapy delivered by telephone calls. Duration: six 50-minutes sessions. Delivered by: 11 master’s-level clinical psychology trainees and one doctoral-level clinical psychologist. N: 41.	Usual carewith access toall services.N: 38.	O.1) BDI mean change score. O.2) Outcomes Questionnaire (psychiatric distress). O.3) PSRS O.4) Loneliness Scale (all O are mean change scores). Time points: pre- and post-intervention.	O.1) I: 5.2 (pre: 28.7, SD = 11.2 and post: 23.5, SD = 12.5), C: 0.5 (pre: 26.1, SD = 10.8 and post 25.6: SD = 13.5). Significant difference between I and C (P<0.05). O.2) I: 8.5 (pre: 87.0, SD = 24.0 and post: 78.5, SD = 31.3), C: 1.5 (pre: 78.2, SD = 22.0 and post: 76.7, SD = 26.6). Significant difference between I and C (P<0.05). O.3) O.4) No significant differences between I and C.

Abbreviations: US = United States, N = number of participants, SD  =  Standard deviation, BDI  =  Beck Depression Inventory, PSRS  =  Provision of Social Relations Scale.