2.3.3. Data synthesis

Included studies were categorised based on the aforementioned variables and risk of bias assessments. Furthermore, a clinical psychologist (IB) reviewed each included study to categorise the type of intervention, as well as its therapeutic modality. All included studies were then entered into EPPI‐Reviewer ²⁰ and its accompanying program to visually synthesise the evidence. Using these programs, an EGM matrix was generated to illustrate the overlap between intervention category and primary outcome, while illustrating study design and whether the intervention had a positive or non‐positive impact on the primary study outcome. Where data was available from two or more studies utilising the same category of intervention on the same primary outcome where pooling was considered meaningful (i.e. if the underlying clinical questions were sufficiently similar), a meta‐analysis was planned. However, due to heterogeneity of study designs, intervention characteristics and outcome measures, meta‐analysis could not be performed.