Table 1

Characteristics of the included qualitative studies

Study and characteristics
	Tanyi et al, 200929 How family practice physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants incorporate spiritual care in practice	Kelly et al, 200830 GPs' experiences of the psychological aspects in the care of a dying patient	Olson et al, 200631 Mind, body, and spirit: family physicians' beliefs, attitudes, and practices regarding the integration of patient spirituality into medical care	Ellis and Campbell, 200527 Concordant spiritual orientations as a factor in physician–patient spiritual discussions: a qualitative study	Murray et al, 200328 GPs and their possible role in providing spiritual care: a qualitative study28	Ellis et al, 200226 What do family physicians think about spirituality in clinical practice?	Grant et al, 200432 Spiritual issues and needs: perspectives from patients with advanced cancer and nonmalignant disease. A qualitative study

Country	US	Australia	US	US	Scotland	US	Scotland

Study participants	3 male GPs, 5 female nurse practitioners, and 2 male physician assistants	15 GPs (8 males and 7 females)	17 GP residents (11 males and 6 females)	10 GPs (7 males and 3 females) and 10 patients of these GPs	40 GPs (no information about male/female distribution)	13 GPs (10 males and 3 females)	20 GPs (no information information about male/female distribution)

Setting	GPs employed in three large clinics in the Minneapolis/St Paul area	GPs who referred their patient to a hospice/home care specialist palliative care service	Third-year GP residents completing residency training in a South west US medical school	Board-certified Missouri GPs caring for a patient with chronic or terminal illness	GPs of 20 patients with inoperable lung cancer and 20 patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) grade III or IV cardiac failure	Board-certified Missouri GPs from different practice types (academic/community practice; urban/rural)	GPs of 20 patients with a range of advanced malignant and non-malignant illnesses (cancer, cardiac failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), motor neurone disease)

Data collection	Semi-structured interviews	Individual case-review discussions guided by key questions within a semi-structured format	In-depth interviews	Semi-structured interviews	Serial telephone interviews	Semi-structured interviews	In-depth interviews

Data analysis	Phenomenological methodology described by Colaizzi (1978)33	Analysis to identify convergence of key topics that were presented and then categorised into common themes	Grounded theory	Constant comparative method	Thematic analysis	Iterative process tomake an initial template for coding data; code revisions until consensus was reached about salient issues or themes	Analysis ongoing throughout fieldwork; emergent themes fed back into data collection and coding strategy; review of the evolving themes