FIGURE 1—

Algorithm Used to Grade Strength of Evidence

Note. Example of how we applied this to the evidence on perceived social support and family physician visits: we identified 4 studies, 3 of high quality and 1 of medium quality. Less than 70% of high-quality studies (2 out of 3) but more than 50% of high- and medium-quality studies (3 out of 4) reported no evidence of effect; we therefore rated the evidence as being of moderate strength.

Source. Adapted from Gomes and Higginson.¹⁸