3.7.7.3 Characteristics of included studies

This section of the results should also include an overall description of the included studies (with reference to the table of included study characteristics in the appendices), with the main aim to provide some context to the results section and sufficient detail for the reader to confirm that the studies match the eligibility criteria for the review and to determine if the included studies are similar enough to combine in meta-synthesis. This includes the descriptive and demographic features (e.g. the country and setting of the study) of the included studies, methodology of included studies, total population size for combined included studies, geographic context of included studies and participant characteristics, characteristics of the interventions, or phenomena of interest  as well as the main clinical characteristics, as they relate to the review objective and the inclusion criteria. Specific items/points of interest from individual studies may also be highlighted here and synthesized in narrative.