Table 1.
The search strategy.
| Selection criteria | Keywords | Inclusion criteria | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Participants | #1 | “breast cancer” (title and abstract) | We included studies with breast cancer patients or survivors |
| Interventions | #2 | “psychological intervention” (title and abstract) OR “psychological therapy” (title and abstract) OR “psychological support” (title and abstract) OR “psychotherapy” (title and abstract) | We included studies that examined the efficacy of psychological interventions for body image (BI) on cancer patients or survivors compared with a control group. We included only intervention that was conducted by trained psychologists or studies in which the psychological intervention is used alone, and not administered in combination with other educational techniques (which makes it difficult to understand the effectiveness of the psychological interventions) |
| The comparison intervention or exposure | #3 | We included studies in which participants in the control group participated in an active or non-active intervention | |
| Outcome | #4 | “body esteem” (title and abstract) OR “bodily self” (title and abstract) OR “body image” (title and abstract) OR “body consciousness” (title and abstract) | We included studies that assess a measure of BI that was consistent with any dimension of BI (e.g., subjective evaluation and/or perceptual). We included between-group outcome data of mixed-method designs studies or between-groups research studies. If different times were analyzed in the study, we considered only the last outcome point available |
| Study type | #5 | No restriction | No restriction |
| Search combination | #1 AND #2 AND #3 AND #4 | ||
| Database search | |||
| Language | We included studies written in English | ||
| Electronic databases | Scopus, PsycINFO, and ProQUEST |