Table 1 Complete search strategy for all electronic bibliographic databases

Terms that searches below are intended to capture

Family, families, caregiver, caregivers, caregiver, caregivers, caregiving, spouse, spouses, spousal, dyad, dyads, dyadic, partner, partners, couple, couples, coupled

Afraid, anxiety, anxieties, fear, fears, fearing, feared, worry, worrying, worries, worried

Recur, recurs, recurrence, recurring, recurred, relapse, relapsed, relapsing, progress, progression, progressed, progressing, coming back, reoccur, reoccurs, reoccurrence, reoccurring, reoccurred, returned, returning, return, returns.

Cancer, cancers, umor, tumors, tumour, tumours

 CINAHL via EBSCOhost

Title/abstract/subject searches: Famil* OR caregiver* or caregiver* or spous* or dyad* or partner* or couple*

OR

CINAHL Headings: (MH ‘Family+’) OR (MH ‘Caregivers’)

Title/abstract/subject searches: afraid or anxiet* or fear* or worr*

OR

CINAHL Headings: (MH ‘Fear+’)

Title/abstract/subject searches: coming back or progress* or recur* or relaps* or reoccur* or return* or spread*

OR

CINAHL Headings: (MH ‘Disease Progression’) OR (MH ‘Recurrence’)

Title/abstract/subject searches: Cancer* or tumor* or tumour*

OR

CINAHL Headings: (MH ‘Neoplasms+’)

 EMBASE via Ovid

Title/abstract/keyword searches: Famil* OR caregiver* or caregiver* or spous* or dyad* or partner* or couple*

OR

Emtree: exp. family/ or exp. caregiver/ or exp. caregiver burden/ or exp. caregiver strain index/or exp. caregiver support/or exp. dyad/

Title/abstract/keyword searches: afraid or anxiet* or fear* or worr*

OR

Emtree: exp. fear/

Title/abstract/keyword searches: coming back or progress* or recur* or relaps* or reoccur* or return* or spread*

OR

Emtree: exp. cancer recurrence/ or exp. cancer regression/ or exp. relapse/ or exp. recurrent disease/ or exp. tumor recurrence/ or exp. tumor regression/or

exp. progression free survival/

Title/abstract/keyword searches: Cancer* or tumor* or tumour*

OR

Emtree: exp. neoplasm/

 ProQuest Dissertations and Theses – GLOBAL via ProQuest

Title/abstract/index term (keyword) searches: Famil* OR caregiver* or caregiver* or spous* or dyad* or partner* or couple*

OR

Subject searches: Exact(‘families & family life’ OR ‘caregivers’ OR ‘single family’ OR ‘partners’ OR ‘individual & family studies’ OR ‘couples’ OR ‘domestic partners’)

Title/abstract/index term (keyword) searches: afraid or anxiet* or fear* or worr*

OR

Subject searches: Exact(‘worry’ OR ‘fear & phobias’)

Title/abstract/index term (keyword) searches: coming back or progress* or recur* or relaps* or reoccur* or return* or spread*

OR

Subject searches:

Exact(‘progress’)

Title/abstract/index term (keyword) searches: Cancer* or tumor* or tumour*

OR

Subject searches: Exact(‘skin cancer’ OR ‘colorectal cancer’ OR ‘esophageal cancer’ OR ‘ovarian cancer’ OR ‘uterine cancer’ OR ‘fear & phobias’ OR ‘breast cancer’ OR ‘thyroid cancer’ OR ‘brain cancer’ OR ‘cervical cancer’ OR ‘genital cancers’ OR ‘kidney cancer’ OR ‘lung cancer’ OR ‘testicular cancer’ OR ‘pancreatic cancer’ OR ‘prostate cancer’ OR ‘bone cancer’ OR ‘endometrial cancer’ OR ‘progress’ OR ‘cancer’ OR ‘liver cancer’ OR ‘oral cancer’ OR ‘head & neck cancer’

 PsycINFO via Ovid

Title/abstract/key concepts searches: Famil* OR caregiver* or caregiver* or spous* or dyad* or partner* or couple*

OR

Subjects: exp. FAMILY/ or exp. family members/ or exp. Caregivers/ or exp. Caregiver Burden/or exp. couples/

Title/abstract/key concepts searches: afraid or anxiet* or fear* or worr*

OR

Subjects: exp. fear/or exp. anxiety/

Title/abstract/key concepts searches: coming back or progress* or recur* or relaps* or reoccur* or return* or spread*

OR

Subjects: exp. ‘relapse (disorders)’/

Title/abstract/key concepts searches: Cancer* or tumor* or tumour*

OR

Subjects: exp. neoplasms/

 PubMed via National Library of Medicine

Title/abstract searches: Famil* OR caregiver* or caregiver* or spous* or dyad* or partner* or couple*

OR

MeSH terms: ‘Family’[Mesh] OR ‘Caregivers’[Mesh]

Title/abstract searches: afraid or anxi* or fear* or worr*

OR

MeSH terms: ‘Fear’[Mesh] OR ‘Anxiety’[Mesh]

Title/abstract searches: coming back or progress* or recur* or relaps* or reoccur* or return* or spread*

OR

MeSH terms: ‘Recurrence’[Mesh] OR ‘Disease Progression’[Mesh] OR ‘Disease-Free Survival’[Mesh]

Title/abstract searches: Cancer* or tumor* or tumour*

OR

MeSH terms: ‘Neoplasms’[Mesh]