*2.1. Bibliographic Search and Inclusion Criteria*

Searches were conducted in eight databases: Cochrane, PubMed, Web of Science, Cinahl, Embase, Lilacs, PeDro, and Scopus before October 2021. No limits of date, language, or study design were established in order to increase the number of registers obtained. The search strategy was made according to the PICO (Patient, Intervention, Comparation, Outcome) methodology with the help of an expert on bibliographical resources. The search strategy used was: TITLE-ABS-KEY (("lifelike doll" OR "baby doll" OR "doll therapy" OR "baby doll therapy" OR "doll therapy intervention" OR "doll" OR "empathy doll") AND ("Alzheimer Disease" OR "Dementia" OR "Alzheimer" OR "Alzheimer's" OR "Alzheimer dementia" OR "dementia sufferers" OR "nursing home resident" OR "long term care" OR "cognitive decline" OR "cognitive impairment")). Authors were contacted to retrieve non-reported data.

The inclusion criteria were: (1) dementia diagnosis according to DSM-V; (2) people over 65 years; (3) intervention with DT; (4) clinical trials; and (5) simple majority of the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) checklist (Appendix A). The use of several types of dolls such as empathy dolls, newborn, or reborn was accepted. The exclusion criteria were: (1) participants with severe sensory disorders that may not count due to a minimum ability to communicate or those who used dolls before the beginning of the study; (2) studies that used dolls that did not have a realistic appearance or were stuffed dolls (most of the previous studies emphasize the importance that the appearance of the doll truly resembles a real baby).
