Table 2.

Initial data extraction charting template

Main category/subcategories	Description
Article data
Author(s)	Who is/are the author(s)?
Title	The full title of the article
Publication year	When was the study published?
Country	In which country was the study conducted?
Language	What language is used in the article?
Study characteristics
Aims/purpose	Describe the stated objective(s)
Study design	Quantitative or mixed methods. Experimental or observational
Data collection methods	Questionnaires, electronic health record extraction, online platforms network data, qualitative techniques, etc.
Key concept	Does the study focus on social support, care, or both?
Population characteristics
Participants' role	Who are the participants? Patients, formal, or informal caregivers
Age	Participant’s age
Gender	Participant’s gender
Participant’s context	Types of acute illnesses, long-term conditions or disabilities
Setting	Where was social support or care delivered? (hospital, primary health care, self-groups, personal environment, online settings, etc.)
Sample size	How many people participated in the study?
Social network analysis methodology
Approach	Sociocentric, egocentric or personal network approach
Social network analysis metrics	Density, centrality measures (degree, betweenness, closeness), isolates, dyads, etc.
Analysis type	Descriptive, correlation, bivariant, multivariant, or others
Data visualization	Yes/no
Software	What SNA software was used?
Knowledge contribution
Key findings	What were the main results of the study?
Limitations	What are the main limitations of the study?