Table 4. Main findings of the cognitive debriefing of the Quality of Communication scale.

SO, significant other.

Content	Where in the scale	Participant
Focusing on a specific physician can be challenging, particularly when followed in hospice or by a team	Introduction: ’the doctor taking care of your condition’	Co007
		Co012
		Co015_SO
		Co016_SO Co017_SO
Looking into patient’s eyes is a key element of communication	Item 2	Co013
At first unexpected, then obvious issue (i.e. looking into patient’s eyes)	Item 2	Co014
Statement difficult to understand, requires attentive reading	Item 8	Co010
Same content, item 9 could be skipped	Item 8 vs. 9	Co007 Co014
Content could be confused in the patient version	Item 8 vs. 9	Co015_SO Co016_SO
’Aspettativa di vita‘ difficult to understand	Item 10	Co012 Co014
Statement understandable after re-reading	Item 13	Co010
Patient’s values and beliefs are not part of the patient-physician relationship, except for a long-lasting one	Items 14–17	Co014
The physician is not expected to be competent on these issues, to be deserved e.g. to a psychologist or to a chaplain	Items 14–17	Co004 Co012 Co014
Patients encounter many physicians in their disease trajectory	Item 19	Co016_SO