Table 3.

Themes, subthemes, and codes with relevant excerpts from consultation phase

Theme	Subtheme	Code	Verbatim
Obtaining TAC	Family involvement	Reason[11]	Mr N (Patient 7): “my daughter would do registration. When the call comes, she gives me the phone, or connects to the video, and I would talk to doctor. I do not know the smartphone or video call.” Mr. G (Patient 6) (middle aged farmer explained about the daughter’s involvement during consultation): “I am not efficient in using mobiles. Besides, my daughter understands Hindi better than me.” Mr. G (Patient 5): “As the family wants to know how treatment is done, they wish to sit with the patient.” When he was asked about his feeling, he told “At first there was a hesitation, but as she got to know more about me, the hesitation decreased.”
		Effect[10]	Positive feeling: Mrs N (Patient 8) felt “my husband used to sit with me during the sessions, and I don’t have any problem with that. Actually, I feel good about his support.”
			Unwanted intrusion: Mr. S told about his mother, “If we sat together on call, it would be chaotic. My mother would have said he is doing so and so, I would have said, ‘she’s lying, give me the phone’. The doctor would have not understood anything, nobody would have understood anything, phone would have got cut.”
	Stigma[11]		Mr S (Patient 12): “I fear that I should not get humiliated in front of family members. I hide from family members while the call. I tell them some lie like ‘it’s a call from my office’.” Mr A (Patient 11): “at home there is no problem as everybody knows about my drug issue, but outside no one knows. I feel ashamed.” Mr B (Patient 2): “patients, according to me will continue his addiction (if they continue treatment through tele mode). If they come here their tests will be done and everything can be seen.” Mr. S (Patient 13): “Sir, if I always take treatment through phone, if I am doing anything wrong, you won’t be able to catch it.”
Satisfaction with teleconsultation	Privacy issues[12]	Perceived deficit of privacy[9]	Mr Y (Patient 15): (shared his feeling while discussing about his alcohol-related problems with his colleagues around) “One day I was with Dr. P. and colleagues so I felt hesitant to talk about this then I came outside in the park and then I talked about my problem. It was quite tough…. they once asked me to talk on a video call but I was busy with Dr. P. in the department, so I could not attend video call, fearing that others would be able to hear the doctor’s question and would know about my problems.” Mr S (Patient 12): “I benefited from it, but only when I was alone. When the Dr does a video call when I am home, my mother comes and stands beside me, wife comes and stands beside me, father comes and stands behind me. So, I can’t share my feelings with the Dr.”
		Privacy is not of concern[5]	Mrs N (Patient 9): “my problem is not so confidential, I can tell, husband used to be with me during my teleconsultation, he also accompanies me to the OPD.” Mr S (Patient 14): “I am rarely with family members during tele-consultation, as they usually are away for their job. Even if I am sitting with other family members, its not a problem, because they know about my problems.”
	Control and autonomy	Incongruence of goal between patient and doctor[1]	Mr S (Patient 5): told “via teleconsultation the doctors sometimes give me very high dose medicines to make me feel sleepy. Even after having that medicine through teleconsultation, I could not sleep and I kept feeling that I should have at least one ‘peg’. And one ‘peg’ would become two.”
		Loss of control[3]	Patient Mr C (Patient 4): “in teleconsultation, the doctor jumps in to the questions or just ask about the problem, and I as the patient must answer those questions. I feel, even if I tell my problem, it won’t help to know why I drink. So, the session should start with a friendly talk.”
		Enhanced autonomy[2]	Mr. S (Patient 13): “first day during teleconsultation, when you were saying about medication, I opposed you by saying that I didn’t want medicines, and you didn’t prescribe any, and I felt that my choice counts.”
	Missing elaborate enquiry[3]		Mr S (Patient 13): “During in person consultation, I can openly tell what I want and they can ask me multiple questions, difficult/blunt questions (Like why did you drink? What was the reason?), that nobody else would have asked during teleconsultation.”
	Missed ritual of in-person consultation[3]		Mr Y (Patient 15): “the patient always goes to the doctor after being mentally prepared from home because he knows about this whole process, and he also expects doctor to follow a set of actions like asking, examining, prescribing and explaining the prescriptions etc., but this is lacking in TAC.” Mr G (Patient 5): “Every patient has been to atleast 10 doctors before coming here. Hence they know how to share problems and how can they get solution to their problems. The more detailed the sharing, more effectively can the doctor give medicines and treat them. Its more easy and there is more confidence.”
	Therapeutic relationship during TAC	Therapeutic engagement and commitment[4]	Mrs N (Patient 8): “I can communicate well in most of the times. I mean, I never feel I am not in OPD. Last time, when drsaab called back again, he just forgot to prescribe medicine, then I messaged, so he himself called back, and told me to take the medicine he had changed. So I feel teleconsultation is fine, and I am satisfied.” Mr S (Patient 12): “Dr called and asked me, ‘how are you Sandeep?’ I said ‘I am fine’, but I was sitting and drinking. He asked ‘are you doing any work right now? What are you taking?’ I said ‘I am not taking anything, I am just taking the medicine you prescribed’. The Dr said, ‘Okay, send your patient card.’ I sent the card, he wrote meds and took them. So it doesn’t seem to be working for me.”
		Collaboration: Dr. Pt. trust[2]	Mr. G (Patient 5): “in consultation over phone, we are talking to the person for the first time, we don’t know the person on the other side. Also, we have to speak about the substances which are illegal. So there is ‘trust issue’.”

TAC=telemedicine-based addiction care