Table 3.

The types, definitions and measurement of debts.

Study	Was the type of debt clearly stated?	Debt definition	Debt measurement technique
Kaufman (2015)	Yes	Debt was defined measured as loan status over five years.	Participants self-report on a Likert scale, the higher the value the lower the loan.
Lee et al. (2016)	Yes	Debt was defined by ratio of interest paid in household debts to disposable income.	Participants answer three questions. First, what was their house ownership category? Second, at the end of last year how much house related debt interest was paid. Third, inquired on the household income.
Manning et al. (2015)	No	Debt was not defined.	Debt measuring method was not reported. However, data reported on debt is presented as a Yes or No response.
Maselko et al. (2018)	No	Debt was not defined.	Participants self-report on a single question on whether the household was in debt. Participants responses fell into categories of Yes, No or Unknown.
Mathias et al. (2015)	No	Debt was defined as loans in the last 6 months.	Participants self-report in a survey whether Yes or No they had loans in the last 6 months.
Seponski et al. (2018)	No	Debt was not defined.	Participants self-reported on a structured interview on their monthly saving per capita, participants responses fell into three categories; In debt, savings, or in debt and no savings.
Sharma et al. (2018)	Yes	Debt was referred as debt due to illness.	Participants self-reported in an interview whether they had taken or not taken debt due to illness.
Shidhaye et al. (2016)	No	Debt was not defined.	Participants self-reported Yes or No if they had loans.
Xu et al. (2015)	No	Debt was not defined.	Participants self-reported Yes or No if their family had any debts in the past year