Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Studies with sufficient data to determine the direction of the treatment effect were eligible for inclusion. Descriptive and correlational studies, methodological studies of QoL, and case studies were excluded from the review. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), controlled clinical trials (CCTs) and programme evaluations with pre- and post-testing were included in the review.
Specific interventions included in the review
Studies of any intervention that was administered or conducted by nurses, or any programme in which nurses were the key personnel, were eligible for inclusion. The interventions included in the review fell into the following categories: special nursing care; patient education; cognitive-behavioural training; counselling techniques; exercise; and combinations of these strategies. The studies included in the review were conducted in out-patient clinics, nursing homes, hospitals, hospices, and the community or home.
Participants included in the review
Studies of patients or members of a group expected to benefit from the intervention were eligible for inclusion. Healthy volunteers were excluded from the review. Patients with the following diagnoses were included in the review: elderly (16 studies), cancer (12 studies), cardiovascular (5 studies), pulmonary (4 studies), rheumatic (3 studies), human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (2 studies), mental illness (2 studies), drug addiction ( 1 study) and chronic pain (1 study). The mean age of the patients in included studies ranged from 31 to 34 to older than 81 years.
Outcomes assessed in the review
Studies of QoL measures, which met the definition of having multiple dimensions of well-being that encompass physical, psychological or spiritual, social and interpersonal, and financial or material aspects that may be measured on scales of satisfaction, importance or distress, were eligible for inclusion. The QoL measures used in the included studies were: Life Satisfaction Index, Visual Analog QoL scale, Quality of Life Index (20 items), Quality of Life Index (27 items), Philadelphia Geriatric Morale, Quality of Life Scale, Faces Scale and Hospice Quality of Life Index. Where more than one QoL measure was reported, the measure considered the most well-known, reliable and valid was extracted for the review.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
Two reviewers jointly made decisions on the inclusion of studies.