Table 1.

Characteristics publications and quality score.

First author, year, country	Cancer	Data collected	Study type	n	Age, in years, mean	Women, %	Questionnaires	Conclusions	Q score
Batenburg [14] 2014, Netherlands	Breast	2010	Observational	175	48	99	Breast Cancer–Related Concerns (BCRC), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised (CES-D), Emotional Approach Coping Scale (EACS), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy, Breast (FACT-B), Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer (Mini-MAC) Scale (MIMA)	Individual differences in coping influence the relationship between online support group participation and psychological well-being.	6
Batenburg [15] 2014, Netherlands	Breast	2011	Observational	125	48	100	BCRC, CES-D, EACS, FACT-B	No negative effect of online participation; more positive effect when patients approach their emotions less actively.	10
Bender [16] 2013, Canada	Breast	2008	Observational	73	56	100	Self-made	Online communities have the potential to fill gaps in supportive care.	7
Classen [17] 2013, Canada	Gynecological	2009	Observational	27	40	100	Female Sexual Distress Scale—revised (FSDS), Illness Intrusiveness Ratings Scale (IIRS), Hospitality Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Self-made	Women find the intervention acceptable. Posters tend to be more positive than lurkers.	9
Frost [18] 2014, Netherlands	Unspecified	2013	Observational	115	52	55	Self-made	Patients share medical details more willingly online than daily life or identity information.	6
Han [21] 2011, USA	Breast	2001	Observational	177		100	BCRC	A combination of empathy expression and reception is crucial to obtaining optimal benefits.	10
Han [20] 2012, USA	Breast	2001	Observational	231	51	100	FACT-B	Patterns of engagement differed according to patients’ characteristics.	9
Han [19] 2014, USA	Breast	2005	Observational	325	51	100	BCRC, Partners in Health (PIH), Social support, Self-made	Patterns of engagement differed according to patients’ sociodemographic characteristics and psychosocial factors. Lurkers had a higher level of perceived functional well-being than posters at 3 months post baseline.	8
Hoybye [22] 2010, Denmark	Unspecified	2003	Observational	211	50-57	85-90	European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC C300), MIMA, Profile of Mood States (POMS),	Patients not inclined to use Internet-based interventions are characterized by social position and employ more passive coping strategies.	8
Hoybye [23] 2010, Denmark	Unspecified	2004	Randomized clinical trial (RCT)	794	53-55	84-90	MIMA, POMS	Long-lasting psychological effects of participating in Internet-based support groups still need to be confirmed.	9
Kim [24] 2012, USA	Breast		Observational	177	51	100	BCRC, FACT-B	Supportive exchanges play positive, but different, roles in predicting psychosocial health outcomes. Emotional support giving and receiving tend to reinforce each other.	9
Lepore [25] 2014, USA	Breast	2011	RCT-Control group	184		100	IIRS, Self-made	The prosocial Internet support group (ISG) did not produce better mental health outcomes in distressed survivors relative to standard ISG.	11
Lieberman [27] 2005, USA	Breast		Observational	114	46	100	CES-D, FACT-B	Validation of bulletin boards as a source of support and help for breast cancer patients.	7
Lieberman [26] 2006, USA	Breast		Observational	52	46	100	CES-D, FACT-B, Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI)	Expressing certain negative emotions online is beneficial; expressing others is not.	7
Nam Koong [28] 2010, USA	Breast	2001	Observational	231	51	100	Self-made	Treatment information exchanges had a positive impact on emotional well-being for those with higher health self-efficacy but a negative influence for those with lower health self-efficacy.	10
Osei [29] 2013, USA	Prostate	2010	RCT-Control group	40	67	0	26-item Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC-260), Program Satisfaction (PRSA), Relationship Satisfaction (RS), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWL), 12-item Short-Form patient-reported survey of patient health (SF12), 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF36)	Providing support using Web-based methods is effective.	7
Rimer [30] 2005, USA	Unspecified	2004	Observational	362	>50	49	Information seeking items from the National Cancer Institute’s Health Information National Trends Study (HINTS), Self-made	Mailing lists appear to be an important resource for patients. Data suggest that they are perhaps underused by minority survivors.	4
Setoyama [32] 2011, Japan	Breast	2007	Observational	253		100	HADS	The results demonstrate that participating in online communities, even as a lurker, may be beneficial to patients’ mental health.	7
Seckin [31] 2011 USA	75% Breast, 25% other cancers		Observational	255		80	CES-D, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT), Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Short-Form General Health Survey (SF20), Multidimensional Index of Life Quality (MILQ)	The Internet may be particularly beneficial to older adults who feel helpless to cope with cancer in old age.	7
Shaw [33] 2006, USA	Breast		Observational	144	44,5	100	BCRC, Emotional Well-being (EWB), Positive Affect Negative Affect Scale, (PANAS), Psychological General Well-Being Index (PGWBI)	Active users were more likely at pretest to consider themselves active participants in their health care.	10
Yoo [34] 2014, USA	Breast	2005-2007	Observational	111	50,9	100	60-item index of coping (COPE), Family Environment Scale (FES)	Family environment plays a crucial role in predicting participation and moderating the effects of use of online groups on coping strategies such as problem- and emotion-focused coping.	8