Table 2.

Categories of information needs

Main categories	Definition	Sub-categories	Study designs
			Qualitative studies	Quantitative studies	Mixed-method studies
Treatment process [3, 8, 9, 16–21, 23–25] [26, 27, 30–33, 36]*	IN concerning administration or application of remedies to a patient, or concerning a disease or injury as well as medicinal or surgical management; therapy	Medication	[16–20, 25]	[23, 24]; [32]*	[3, 8, 9, 21]
		Diabetes self-management	[18–20, 25]; [26, 27, 31]*	[23]; [32]*	[8, 9, 21]
		Nutrition	[19]; [26, 30, 31, 36]*	[23]; [32]*	[3, 8, 21]; [33]*
		Foot care		[24]	[8, 21]
		Treatment options			[3, 9]
		Emergency management	[19, 20]
		Monitoring	[36]*	[24]
Course of disease [3, 8, 9, 18, 19, 21–25] [6, 26, 28, 31–33, 35, 36]*	All information needs on topics related to the course of disease (progression through a development or period of illness)	Consequences (e.g. lifestyle, social life, physical health)	[18, 19, 25]; [26, 28, 31, 36]*	[23, 24]; [32, 35]*	[3, 8, 9, 21]; [6, 33]*
		Symptoms and diagnosis	[22]; [36]*	[23]	[9]
		Cure	[19, 22]; [26]*
		Information on condition			[33]*
		Prognosis	[26]*
Abnormalities of glucose metabolism [3, 4, 8, 19, 22–25] [27, 33]*	Information needs related to defined types of diseases with abnormal glucose metabolism (impaired glucose tolerance and impaired fasting glycaemia [37])	T1DM and T2DM	[19, 20, 25]	[23, 24]	[33]*
		Unspecified type of diabetes		[4]	[3, 8]
		MODY	[22]
		GDM	[27]*		[33]*
Diabetes through the life cycle [20–22, 25]; [29, 32]*	Information needs related to topics that are part of different stages of the human life course—traditionally this includes childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age	Reproduction (e.g. birth control, fertility, pregnancy)	[20, 22, 25]; [29]*	[32]*	[21]
		Puberty	[18]
		Climacteric	[20]
Pathophysiology of diabetes [9, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25]	Diabetes-related information needs on topics that refer to the pathophysiology of diabetes (e.g. impaired insulin secretion and increased insulin resistance [38])	Aetiology of diabetes	[19]		[9, 21]
		Pathogenesis of diabetes	[19]
		Genetics	[22, 25]
		Blood glucose levels		[24]
Research [19, 21, 22]; [32, 34, 35]*	Information needs related to research, defined as current scientific knowledge, or studies, on diabetes	State of research	[19, 22]	[32, 34, 35]*	[21]
Coping [18, 19, 21, 23]	“Action regulation under stress including the ways that people mobilize, guide, manage, energize, and direct behaviour, emotion, and orientation, or how they fail to do so” under stressful conditions [39]	Diabetes-related family conflicts	[18, 19]		[21]
		Stress management		[23]
Support [18, 24]; [32, 34]*	Information needs related to support that is defined as a person or thing that provides aid or assistance in managing diabetes	Medical support and financial support	[18]	[24, 32, 34]*
Prevention [8, 9, 20]	Information needs related to prevention that is defined in terms of interventions that are provided before the initial onset of the diabetes	Not specified	[20]		[8, 9]

*IN: secondary outcome