Table 3.

Summary of included studies

Characteristics of studies	Number of studies n = 26
Country:
UK	24 [67–75, 77–91]
Sweden/Finland/Iceland	2 [66, 76]
Perspective:
Healthcare professionals only	6 [68, 73–75, 77, 90, 91]
Patients only	9 [71, 72, 76, 79, 81–84, 88]
Healthcare professionals and patients	11 [66, 67, 69, 70, 78, 80, 85–87, 89]
Speciality area:
Oncology	20 [66–68, 71–73, 75, 78, 83, 85, 86, 89–91]
Orthopaedics	7 [76, 77, 79, 80, 85, 87, 88]
Urology	2 [74, 81]
Ophthalmology	1 [82]
Obstetrics	1 [84]
Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT)	2 [69, 70]
Types of comparison:
Surgery versus no active intervention	1 [66]
Surgery versus medical management**	13 [67, 68, 72–75, 82, 84, 86, 89–91]
Surgery versus deferred surgery**	2 [69, 70]
Surgery versus medical management versus active monitoring**	5 [71, 78, 83, 89–91]
Surgery versus physiotherapy/exercise component**	5 [76, 77, 79, 80, 87]
Surgery versus placebo versus active monitoring	1 [85]
Surgery versus closed contact casting	1 [88]
Surgery versus medical management versus no active intervention	1 [81]
Data collection:
Qualitative interviews only	16 [66, 69, 70, 72, 74–77, 79–81, 83, 84, 88, 90, 91]
Mixed qualitative methods**	5 [67, 68, 73, 80, 85, 86]
Focus groups	1 [82]
Audio recordings of recruitment appointments	4 [71, 78, 87, 89]

* Includes more than one paper reporting on the same trial

**Mixed qualitative methods, interviews combined with the following: audio recordings of recruitment appointments, focus groups