| AMSTAR criteria |
Hypnosis (Madden 2012) |
Biofeedback (Barragán 2011) |
Intracutaneous/subcutaneous sterile water injection (Derry 2012) |
Immersion in water (Cluett 2009) |
Aromatherapy (Smith 2011c) |
Relaxation techniques (Smith 2011b) |
Acupuncture or acupressure (Smith 2011a) |
Massage, reflexology and other manual methods (Smith 2012) |
TENS (Dowswell 2009) |
| A priori design |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Duplicate selection & extraction |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Comprehensive literature search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Searched for reports regardless of publication type or language |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Excluded/Included list provided |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Characteristics of included studies provided |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Quality assessment of included studies assessed & presented |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Quality used appropriately in formulating conclusions |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Methods used to combine studies appropriate |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Not applicable |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Publication bias assessed |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
| Conflict of interest stated |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Total score (out of a maximum of 11) |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
