Table 1 Eligibility criteria

Initial inclusion and exclusion criteria

• Documents focused on integrated palliative care for people with cancer.

• Study design: all study designs, including non-empirical data (e.g. from opinion/commentary pieces) which could inform theory development.

• Types of settings: all care settings including inpatient, outpatient or home-based.

• Types of participants: adults (18 years and over) with a diagnosis of cancer, including underserved groups such as those over 75 years, ethnic minority groups, minority gender identity or sexual orientation, people living in remote areas, and all other potentially underserved groups with a diagnosis of cancer; informal caregivers of people with cancer, and all relevant healthcare professionals.

• Types of intervention: any intervention for providers, patients and/or informal carers, where palliative care and oncology services are managed and delivered so that people with cancer receive a continuum of disease-management, rehabilitation and palliative care services, coordinated across the different levels and sites of care within and beyond the health sector, and according to their needs, from cancer diagnosis to end of life, extending to bereavement support.

• Outcome measures: all integrated palliative care and cancer-related outcomes.

• Language: publications in English language only.

Additional inclusion and exclusion criteria

• Publication year: 2010 onwards

• Study design: including only empirical research of qualitative design, mixed methods, or economic evaluations (full or partial).

• Excluding: conference abstracts, protocols, theses, dissertations, commentaries and literature reviews.