Key characteristics of included studies
| Key characteristics (total n=80) | N | % |
| 1. Location | ||
| a. Type | ||
| Urban | 47 | 58.8 |
| Rural | 3 | 3.8 |
| Mixed | 3 | 3.8 |
| Not available*/Not applicable† | 27 | 33.8 |
| b. Region | ||
| West | 24 | 30 |
| South | 21 | 26.3 |
| North | 10 | 12.5 |
| East | 2 | 2.5 |
| Mixed (two studies in west and south; two in west, south and north) | 4 | 5 |
| Pan India‡ | 12 | 15 |
| Not available | 7 | 8.8 |
| 2. Methods | ||
| a. Quantitative | 60 | 75 |
| Surveys (inferential) | 21 | |
| Surveys (descriptive) | 15 | |
| Documents (descriptive) | 13 | |
| Documents (inferential) | 4 | |
| Other (documents, data, observation, RCT, websites) | 7 | |
| b. Qualitative | 16 | 20 |
| Interviews | 10 | |
| Interviews and focus groups | 3 | |
| Interviews and observations | 2 | |
| Interviews, observations, focus groups | 1 | |
| c. Mixed methods | 4 | 5 |
| Survey (descriptive) and interviews | 2 | |
| Survey (descriptive) and focus groups | 1 | |
| Survey (inferential) and focus groups | 1 | |
| 3. Population | ||
| a. Professional | 34 | 42.5 |
| Ethics committee members | 8 | |
| Researchers (two with CT investigators; two with clinical research professionals; one with CRO staff) | 5 | |
| Healthcare students (five with medical students; one each with nursing and pharmacy students) | 7 | |
| Healthcare faculty (two with dental faculty; one with medical faculty) | 3 | |
| Healthcare students and faculty (two with dental students and faculty; one with medical students and faculty) | 3 | |
| Healthcare service providers (one with healthcare faculty) | 3 | |
| Mixed professional groups | 5 | |
| b. Lay | 17 | 21.3 |
| RCT/CT participants (including parents/guardians, healthy volunteers) | 6 | |
| Cohort study participants (including parents/guardians) | 3 | |
| General public (including those accessed from hospitals) | 6 | |
| Specific patient groups (HIV-positive patients; mental health service inpatients) | 2 | |
| c. Documents | 22 | 27.5 |
| d. Mixed (combination of lay, professional, documents) | 7 | 8.8 |
| 4. Journal | ||
| a. Published in India | 49 | 61.3 |
| b. Published in a high-income country | 29 | 36.3 |
| c. Unknown/not clear | 2 | 2.5 |
*When information is not reported.
†When data collected is documents.
‡Includes surveys, documents, journal articles, websites that were not specific to one region.
CRO, contract research organisation; CT, clinical trial; RCT, randomised controlled trial.