Study	Reason for exclusion
Bender 1985	Allocation: not randomised.
Blake 1984	Allocation: not randomised.
Boardman 1986	Allocation: not randomised.
Bowman 1983	Allocation: not randomised.
Camberwell 1987	Allocation: not randomised.
Cormier 1987	Allocation: not randomised.
Creed 1990	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people 18‐65 admitted to psychiatric hospital. Interventions: day hospital versus inpatients, not day centre.
Currie 1995	Allocation: not randomised.
Dick 1985	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people referred to acute day hospital. Interventions: day hospital versus outpatients, not day centre.
Drake 1994	Allocation: not randomised.
Endicott 1979	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people newly admitted to hospital. Interventions: brief hospitalisation with versus brief hospitalisation without day care versus standard inpatient plus aftercare, day care based in inpatient ward, not day centre.
Figueiredo 1976	Allocation: not randomised.
Glick 1986	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people with severe mental illness. Interventions: day hospital versus outpatients, not day centre.
Gomez 1997	Allocation: not randomised.
Guidry 1979	Allocation: not randomised.
Holloway 1991	Allocation: not randomised.
Klein 1974	Allocation: not randomised.
Kluiter 1992	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people referred for inpatient treatment. Interventions: day treatment (either in a day hospital or in a clinical unit) versus standard care, not day centre.
Lamb 1971	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people with severe mental illness. Interventions: high‐expectation (including day hospital) versus low‐expectation settings, not day centre.
Linn 1979	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people with severe mental illness. Interventions: day treatment center (in hospital) with drugs versus drugs, not day centre.
Manthei 1983	Allocation: not randomised.
McCreedie 1984	Allocation: not randomised.
Otero 1993	Allocation: not randomised.
Piper 1993	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people with affective and personality disorders. Interventions: immediate outpatient day treatment versus delayed outpatient day treatment, not day centre.
Polak 1976	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people with severe mental illness. Interventions: private homes versus inpatients, not day centre.
Pryce 1982	Allocation: not randomised.
Rosie 1995	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people with long‐standing personality disorders. Interventions: immediate day treatment in outpatients versus delayed day treatment in outpatients, not day centre.
Schene 1993	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people with severe mental illness. Interventions: day treatment (day clinic in hospital) versus inpatients, not day centre.
Sexton 1992	Allocation: not randomised.
Shepherd 1979	Allocation: not randomised.
Sturt 1984	Allocation: not randomised.
Tsemberis 2003
Vannicelli 1978	Allocation: not randomised.
Washburn 1976	Allocation: randomised. Participants: women with severe mental illness. Interventions: day hospital versus inpatients, not day centre.
Webster 1992	Allocation: not randomised.
Weissert 1980	Allocation: randomised. Participants: people with chronic physical illness.
Wilberg 1998	Allocation: not randomised.