Data extraction framework
| Bibliometrics | Description | Coding |
| Study identification | First author, year of publication | (journal’s description) |
| Study characteristics | Study aim | (authors’ description) |
| Geographical location | Country | |
| Study setting | Inpatient, outpatient | |
| Type of study | Observational (ie, qualitative, quantitative cross-sectional, quantitative longitudinal, mixed methods) or interventional study | |
| Patient characteristics | Sample size | Number of patients |
| Age | (years) | |
| Sex | (% females) | |
| Definition of multimorbidity | (authors’ description) | |
| Prognosis or illness severity indices (if applicable) | eg, less than 6 months of life or congestive heart failure NYHA II-IV | |
| Type of index condition (if applicable) | Cancer or non-malignant | |
| Methods of data collection | Type of data collection | Interview, semi-structured interview, survey, focus group, questionnaire (authors’ description) |
| Context of the preference | Hypothetical / real preference-sensitive situation* | |
| Presentation of information on alternatives - Framing effect† | High-risk of positive-negative framing, low risk of framing or unclear | |
| Number of assessments | eg, one assessment if cross-sectional, two or more assessments if longitudinal | |
| Time between assessments | If applicable | |
| Phenomenon of interest | Description | Type of EoL preference queried for example, cardiopulmonary resuscitation |
| Results | eg, percentage of participants for or against life-sustaining treatments (number of participants stating a preference out of all the patients included in the study) | |
| Results / Conclusions | (authors’ description) |
*Hypothetical preference-sensitive situation: EoL care preferences are measured by asking study participants to imagine themselves in a situation in the future that requires such care; Real preference-sensitive situation: EoL care preferences are measured by asking study participants to state their preferences in a context that actually requires them to express a preference for such care. Examining preferences using hypothetical scenarios removes the acute stress of making decisions when confronted with an EoL situation.
†Framing effect: Cognitive bias caused by the influence of the way information is presented on the choices people make.
EoL, End of Life; NYHA, New York Heart Association.