Table 4.

Key participant quotations for major coded themes

Coded subthemes	Participant quotations
Theme 1—perceptions of the SCSC clinic
First clinic visit     • Clinic experience	“It was too early … they wanted to help me and reach out but I wasn’t ready for it … I just wanted to heal and have peace” (P18)
	“It was a bit of an information overload … I was a bit overwhelmed” (P9)
• Clinic structure	“I was the centre of attention, and it wasn’t about me imposing on them, but it was them seeing how they could look after me” (P23)
	“I’d seen everybody, but everyone was gone, which was the disappointing thing. There was no one to sort of finish off that whole, tie that whole process together” (P8)
• Clinic location	“I was just having flashbacks, and unless I had to be in that space [proximity to chemo-suite] … I don’t want to associate” (P20)
Clinical team (staff)	“I was just so impressed because they made it so easy. That was my first experience of having everything under the one roof, and having all these people available to me. It was so supportive; it was just amazing” (P21) “There is no way I would’ve been as well as I am if I hadn’t seen the dietitian and exercise physiologist” (P20)
Social connection and inclusive understanding	“it's only someone who's been through it really understands you; even the closest family members, unless they've been through it, do they really know what you're going through?” (P05) “We don’t talk about cancer really … there are things that we don’t need to say because we understand each other, whereas out there it’s not quite the same” (P21)
Patient-reported outcome measures	“Do these forms have to be filled out so regularly? … I feel like, oh my goodness, these forms again!” (P25) “You need to know that … that all of those things have been addressed” (P23)
Clinic discovery	“[Medical oncologist] suggested that I come to the Survivorship Clinic” (P9) “I went through the Concord Cancer Centre, so part of the procedures” (P11)
Theme 2—patient-centred care
Individualised care     • Regularity of follow-up	“The meetings every 3 months are very important … if it’s too far, then you get complacent … but if it’s every 3 months, it keeps you vigilant” (P5)
• Fear of shaming	“I feel like I’m getting into trouble. I feel like I’m getting schooled” (P24)
• Control	“I find the one thing is my independence … I’m used to being in control. Even now, I sort of like to be involved” (P19) “There's kind of so much information coming, for me at least,
• Timing of services	in that short space of time, 6 months, there was so many things to do – there were side effects I was trying to understand, and who was going to look after me – I was kind of in a little bit of a blur” (P16)
	"that was a big, confronting thing—to think that I might need a psychologist" (P01)
• Accessibility	“As far as what is on offer, it is basically for retirees … I’m sorry, just because you’ve had cancer, or you have got cancer, doesn’t mean you don’t work” (P1)
	"It's more what's available, and you're not totally cut off … the fact that I know they exist, and I have met the people, and I could just ring them up and start off if they want me to is good" (P11)
Quality of care	“It does the job that I need … I don’t see it as being deficient in any way” (P5) “Holistic approach to a person after they’d had treatment, and support, and learning to take care of ourselves … I was very impressed with the team of people” (P13)
Reassurance	“If there’s anything going on, you’re going to know about it … it’s reassuring because sometimes you just sit there in a quiet moment and wonder if you’re ok” (P5) “It was more that reassurance … I just needed someone to say to me ‘you're ok, your body has recovered now’” (P9)
Technological assistance	“Why don’t you organise Skype discussions? Or tele-conferencing? … and if it transpires that you have issues that need to be handled personally, then you make a visit personally” (P15)
Navigation of services	“I had to wrap my head around what things were about” (P16)
Theme 3—adjustment to illness
Processing of cancer and changing mindset	“They sort of say to you ‘you’re going to go back to life as normal’, but that's just not true, and I wish they wouldn’t say that – I found it really annoying … it’s just not true” (P11) “I’ve changed the way I think in my head, the way I think about life, about money; I didn’t care about any of this. All I want is peace and my health” (P20) “Having your mortality threatened is such a big mental thing … takes away your sense of certainty … it takes a fair bit of getting your head ‘round all that” (P23)
Short-term and long-term needs	“In my mind it’s not as sharp … like should I be at work, should I be driving a car? Double questioning myself, double doubting myself all the time” (P18) “My fingers and feet. It’s not just numb, it’s very painful … I got very depressed. I couldn’t sleep or eat … every medicine had a side effect; can’t sleep, constipation, nausea … I wanted to die inside but I couldn’t tell anyone” (P26) “It would be good to talk about other things in our life … questions to cover that sort of permanency, and I mention it because, I thought ‘how do I know [if] it’s relevant or not?’” (P15) “You’ve got to think about performance at work, and at home, with family … it’s forever. It’s, ‘yes, we’ve survived … for now’” (P18)
Theme 4—external supports and resources
Role of the caregiver	“My daughter came with me too … so she took notes, and she reminded me … of different things… asked questions … I was just focused on what they were saying and weren’t worried about writing it down” (P19)
	“The biggest thing in my case like my wife, my children, my grandchildren, if they see me sitting down moping and feeling sorry for myself, then they’re going to get down in the dumps, and that would really worry me. Then I would feel I’m letting them down, and they would get depressed as well” (P5)
	“[Psychologically] it was very hard. But what made that harder was that I was worried that [my wife] was worried; it was affecting me because I knew she was being strong for me … it just added another layer of psychological stress” (P23)
Role of the GP	“If you have a good GP, it’s so important … [a] very good support thing to see my GP because I didn’t have the support group … I can talk to [him] because I’ve known him for so long” (P13) “I feel like [communication between GPs and hospital staff was] not seamless. I feel like there are so many gaps, that we’re falling in between those gaps” (P16)
Survivorship services	“I [would] like to have the gym continued, to continue with it, because I finished with the gym and can’t go there anymore – they only give you a certain period of time” (P14)