Table 1.

Summary of eligibility criteria applied to studies

Inclusion Criteria	Exclusion Criteria
Studies written in the English language only	Studies written in languages other than English
Studies conducted in the U. K. and the Republic of Ireland (Ireland and Northern Ireland have an all-Ireland palliative care alliance).	Studies researching children’s hospices
Studies which include the perspective of family, patients and/families/informal caregiver	Studies which only have a focus on staff perspectives
	Studies only focusing on the clinical outcomes of treatments
The study was conducted within a dedicated hospice facility with other health care settings (i.e. care homes and hospitals), only used as a comparison	Studies focusing only on diagnostic elements of the illnesses of those in hospice care.
Studies researching adult hospices or hospice services only	Studies looking at only hospital palliative/end of life care
	Systematic reviews