Key components of the studies included
| N | (%) | N | (%) | ||
| Country of origin (n=54) | Study designs used in qualitative research (n=53) | ||||
| UK | 31 | (57.4) | Descriptive qualitative study | 32 | (60.4) |
| Australia | 8 | (14.8) | Case study | 19 | (35.2) |
| Canada | 4 | (7.4) | Grounded theory | 1 | (1.9) |
| The Netherlands | 4 | (7.4) | Ethnography | 1 | (1.9) |
| Denmark | 2 | (3.7) | |||
| Others† | 5 | (9.3) | Qualitative data collection methods (n=53)* | ||
| Interviews | 48 | (90.6) | |||
| Type of research (n=54) | Document reviews | 27 | (50.9) | ||
| Mixed methods | 28 | (51.9) | Observations | 18 | (34.0) |
| Only qualitative methods | 25 | (46.2) | Focus groups | 17 | (32.1) |
| Only quantitative methods | 1 | (1.9) | Others‡ | 10 | (18.9) |
| Study designs used in quantitative research (n=29)* | Qualitative data analysis methods (n=53)* | ||||
| Experimental design | Thematic analysis | 20 | (37.7) | ||
| RCTs | 8 | (27.6) | Content analysis | 4 | (7.5) |
| Post-test-only design | 8 | (27.6) | Constant comparative analysis | 1 | (1.9) |
| Pretest-post-test design | 7 | (24.1) | Others§ | 11 | (20.8) |
| Non-RCTs | 1 | (3.4) | Not specified | 18 | (34.0) |
| Non-experimental design | |||||
| Prospective cohort study | 4 | (13.8) | Desirable items for RE (n=54) | ||
| Descriptive study | 4 | (13.8) | Building IPTs or developing theories | 37 | (68.5) |
| Retrospective cohort study | 1 | (3.4) | Using mixed methods | 28 | (51.9) |
*Multiple items are chosen.
†Brazil, Belgium, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
‡Expert meetings and reviews of participatory appraisals, postintervention participant feedback forms, previous studies, diaries, field notes and video replays.
§Cross-case analysis, realist analysis, framework analysis and systematic text condensation.
IPTs, initial programme theories; RCT, randomised controlled trial; RE, realist evaluation.