. 2014 May 3;14:311. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-14-311

Table 1.

Details of included studies including critical appraisal scores

Study and location	Patient population	Intervention	Control	Length of follow up	Study outcomes	Results	Critical appraisal score
Beaver et al., 2009 Manchester, UK [11]	374 breast cancer patients	Telephone follow up by specialist nurses	Usual hospital care	24 months (mean)	Psychological morbidity	Equivalence trial - : no difference between the two groups	Study Quality – 8/10
					Participant’s needs for information		External validity – 2/3
					Participant’s satisfaction		Internal Validity (bias) – 6/7
					Clinical Investigations ordered		Internal Validity (selection bias) – 6/6
					Time to detection of recurrent disease		Power – 1/1 (Total – 23/27)
Beaver et al., 2009 (Economic evaluation) Manchester, UK [25]	374 breast cancer patients	Cost minimization analysis of RCT above	-	24 months (mean)	Primary: NHS resource use	Telephone follow-up more costly (mean difference £55 but telephone patients had lower personal costs (mean difference £47)	No score as cost analysis
	374 breast cancer patients	Cost minimization analysis of RCT above	-	24 months (mean)	Secondary: patient, carer and productivity courses		No score as cost analysis
Davison and Degner, 2002 Vancouver, Canada [15]	749 breast cancer patients	Computer programme providing information and assisting decision making	Standard care only- asked about decision making before clinic appointment	One clinic visit	Involvement in decision making	Women in the intervention group reporting playing a more passive role.	Study Quality – 6/10
					Patient satisfaction	Patient satisfaction was high in both groups	External validity – 2/3
							Internal Validity (bias) – 5/7
							Internal Validity (selection bias) – 4/6
							Power – 0/1 (Total – 17/27)
Harrison et al., 2011 Sydney, Australia [21]	75 patients with colorectal cancer	5 telephone calls from a specialist colorectal nurse in 6 months after discharge	Standard care	6 months	Unmet supportive care needs	No difference between the groups for unmet needs and health service utilization	Study Quality – 8/10
					Health service utilization	Quality of life scores higher in the intervention group at 6 months	External validity – 2/3
					Quality of life		Internal Validity (bias) – 5/7
							Internal Validity (selection bias) – 6/6
							Power – 0/1 (Total – 21/27)
Hegel et al., 2010 New Hampshire, USA [16]	31 Breast cancer patients	6 weekly session of telephone delivered problem solving occupational therapy	Usual care	12 weeks	Primary outcome: feasibility of conducting the trial	Overall positive outcomes	Study Quality – 8/10
					Secondary outcomes: functional, quality of life and emotional status		External validity – 3/3
							Internal Validity (bias) – 5/7
							Internal Validity (selection bias) – 6/6
							Power – 0/1 (Total – 20/20)
Kearney et al., 2008 Stirling, Scotland [12]	112 cancer patients	Mobile phone-based remote monitoring during chemotherapy	Standard care	16 weeks	Chemotherapy related morbidity – 6 common symptoms, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, mucositis, hand-foot syndrome and diarrhoea	Higher reports of fatigue in the control group and lower reports of hand-foot syndrome in the control group	Study Quality – 8/10
							External validity – 1/3
							Internal Validity (bias) – 5/7
							Internal Validity (selection bias) – 6/6
							Power – 0/1 (Total – 20/27)
Kimman et al., 2011 Maastricht, Netherlands [17]	299 women with breast cancer	Nurse led telephone follow up or	Hospital follow up or hospital follow up plus EGP	18 months	Health related quality of life (HRQoL)	No difference between the two groups	Study Quality – 8/10
		Nurse led telephone follow up plus educational group programme (EGP)			Secondary measures included role and emotional functioning and feelings of control and anxiety		External validity – 2/3
							Internal Validity (bias) – 5/7
							Internal Validity (selection bias) – 6/6
							Power – 1/1 (Total – 22/27)
Kimman et al., 2011 Maastricht, Netherlands [27]	299 women with breast cancer	Nurse led telephone follow up or Nurse led telephone follow up plus educational group programme (EGP)	Hospital follow up or hospital follow up plus EGP	18 months	Quality adjusted life gain (QALYs)	Hospital follow-up plus EGP resulted in the highest QALYs but has the highest costs. Next best in terms of costs and QALYs was nurse led telephone follow up plus EGP	No score as cost analysis
Kimman et al., 2011 Maastricht, Netherlands [27]	299 women with breast cancer		Hospital follow up or hospital follow up plus EGP	18 months	Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs)		No score as cost analysis
Kimman et al., 2010 Maastricht, Netherlands [13]	299 women with breast cancer	Nurse led telephone follow up or	Hospital follow up or hospital follow up plus EGP	12 months	Patient satisfaction	Increased patient satisfaction with access to care in telephone follow-up group. No significant influence on general patient satisfaction, technical competence or inter-personal aspects	Study Quality – 9/10
		Nurse led telephone follow up plus educational group programme (EGP)					External validity – 2/3
							Internal Validity (bias) – 5/7
							Internal Validity (selection bias) – 5/6
							Power – 1/1 (Total – 22/27)
Kroenke et al., 2010 Indiana, USA [26]	405 cancer patients	Centralized telecare management by a nurse-physican specialist team coupled with home-based symptom monitoring by interactive voice recording or internet	Usual care	12 months	Depression Pain	Improvements in pain and depression for the intervention group	Study Quality – 8/10
							External validity – 2/3
							Internal Validity (bias) 6/7-
							Internal Validity (selection bias) – 6/6
							Power – 1/1 (Total – 23/27)
Marcus et al., 2009 Colorado, USA [18]	304 breast cancer patients	16 session telephone counselling post treatment	Resource directory for breast cancer was given to each patient	18 months	Distress	No difference for distress and depression	Study Quality – 8/10
					Depression	Need for clinical referral – depression and distress reduced by 50% in the intervention group for dichotomized end points	External validity – 2/3
					Sexual dysfunction	Effects found for personal growth and sexual dysfunction in the intervention group	Internal Validity (bias) – 5/7
					Personal growth		Internal Validity – 5/6 (selection bias)
					Personal growth		Power – 0/1 (Total – 20/27)
Matthew et al., 2007 Toronto, Canada [20]	152 prostate cancer patients	PDA survey followed by paper	Paper followed by PDA survey	30 mins	Survey was monitoring health-related quality of life but outcomes looked at assessment of data quality and feasibility	Internal consistency similar	Study Quality – 8/10
		PDA followed by PDA survey. (3 groups)				Test re-test reliability confirmed	External validity – 3/3
						Data from two modalities strongly correlated.	Internal Validity (bias) – 5/7
						Fewer missed items for the PDA	Internal Validity (selection bias) – 5/6
						More preferred using the PDA or had no preference. PDA found easy to use	Power – 0/1 (Total – 21/27)
						Age did not correlate with difficulty using PDA	Power – 0/1 (Total – 21/27)
Sandgren et al., 2003 North Dakota, USA [19]	222 women with breast cancer	6×30 min telephone therapy sessions that involved either cancer education or emotional expressions	Standard care	5 months	Perceived control	Cancer education group reported greater perceived control compared to standard care	Study Quality – 7/10
					Mood		Study Quality – 7/10
					Quality of life	No difference for mood or quality of life	External validity – 2/3
							Internal Validity (bias) – 5/7
							Internal Validity (selection bias) – 6/6
							Power – 1/1 (Total – 21/27)
Sikorski et al., 2009 Michigan, USA [22]	486 cancer patients	Automated voice response symptom reporting	Nurse assisted symptom management via the telephone	6 telephone contacts over 8 weeks	Severity of cancer symptom at intake interview and at first intervention contact	Patient in the AVR group reported more severe symptoms. There was a variation with age with older patients reporting more severity of symptoms to the nurse	Study Quality – 9/10
							External validity - 2/3
							Internal Validity (bias) – 5/7
							Internal Validity (selection bias) – 6/6
							Power – 0/1 (Total – 22/27)
Sikorskii et al., 2007 Michigan, USA [23]	435 cancer patients	Automated telephone symptom management	Nurse-assisted symptom management	10 weeks	Severity of cancer symptoms, demographic data and co-morbidities	Reduction in symptom severity in both groups. Lung cancer patients with greater symptom severity withdrew from the ATSM group	Study Quality – 8/10
							External validity – 2/3
							Internal Validity (bias) – 5/7
							Internal Validity (selection bias) – 6/6
							Power – 1/1 (Total – 22/27)
Yun et al. 2012 Seoul, Korea [24]	273 cancer patients	Internet based, individually tailored cancer related fatigue education program	Usual care	12 weeks	Level of fatigue	Education group reported a reduction in fatigue, decrease in HADS anxiety score, increase in global QoL score and emotional, cognitive and social functioning of EORTIC QLQ-C30	Study Quality – 8/10
					Quality of Life, Anxiety and depression		External validity – 1/3
							Internal Validity (bias) – 4/7
							Internal Validity (selection bias) – 6/6
							Power – 1/1 (Total – 20/27)