Table 7.

Representative participant quotes for themes of expectations for a future community-based physical rehabilitation program.

Theme	Participant quotes
Tailored to functional and disability levels	“Most importantly the exercise program should not be difficult to follow, especially the activities should match to us. You know, we cannot do activities similar to a normal individual who has both their legs.” “I won’t be able to perform difficult exercises, my back starts paining even after simple activities. So, I think I should follow a simple exercise program.”
Reduced disruption to daily living and ease of access	“I would do exercises at home. It is easy for me rather than travelling to a distance hospital without wasting time and money; travelling in public transport is a headache.” “Sometimes I do pushups at home before going to my shop. I can’t go anywhere else to do exercises, because I don’t have time, I should be there at the shop.”
Convenient exercise parameters and components	“Engaging in a daily exercise program would be very difficult, but 2-3 days per week would be fine.” “All I want is to engage properly in my farming activities, if the program can help me for that, it would be amazing.” “Before anything I want to walk more speedily, I’m getting slow and slow, it is embarrassing.” “I have seen my leg is getting thinner. If we get overweight, it will affect our legs as legs should bear the weight..., I think we should focus more on keeping our legs strong, especially the good leg.”
Use of equipment and space and involvement of peer groups	“I know some form of special exercises like pushups and squats do not need equipment. So, if these kinds of exercises are included in the program, it would be better.” “We live in this village together, so I think we can do exercises together in one common place, it would be more interesting”
Preintervention awareness programs	“It would be better if you can organize an awareness workshop for all of us before introducing the program. Otherwise, many of the veterans will miss this opportunity.”
Involvement of soldier societies and community health care providers	“There should be a person to contact when we have something to clarify when following the exercise program, actually, we will get many issues.” “Normally, if I need to talk to Army officials for any reason, all I do is contact president of our society and request to pass the message, I’m speaking about that kind of a process.” “All of us are members of the ‘Ranaviru Sansadaya’ and many of us are active members including me. I participate in almost all the events organized by this society. If you deliver the program through this society, it will surely become successful.”