TABLE 3.

Themes, sub‐themes, and patient participant quotations on health goal setting and program impact.

Themes	Sub‐themes	Example Quotes
Health Goal Setting
Improved health behaviors	Nutrition and exercise	“Well, my husband I'm sure has noticed that my eating habits have changed, our eating out habits have changed. The places that we go to eat, fast food or a restaurant. I want to go somewhere that has healthy options. That has changed that I guess. And we have done some more—well since it's getting spring—we've done some more outdoor activities, some hiking, and going to the park with our dog here.” (P06)
	Tying health goals to values	“I'm not one that's like, ‘Okay, let's go work out at the gym five days a week,’ I'm more so like, ‘How can we get the exercise without feelin’ like I'm exercising and workin' out? ‘[Health coach] helped me realize that bein’ active with my son is one thing that I just love to do…now, we find ways to—even if it's just my 15‐minute lunch break while I'm at home, we'll just go outside and do something quick. If it's blowin' bubbles, if it's just goin' and sittin' in the grass and havin' a snack, we just go and get outdoors and just find ways in our day to get active.” (P08)
Enhanced capacity for self‐regulation	Anticipating and planning for setbacks	“I think I … learned the lesson that it really is important to think about barriers, that barriers are not internal. The barriers are things that I think of in my outside environment that could just be things that occur that I have no control over that would make it—as hard as I'm trying, would make it impossible for me to achieve the goal in the time that I've planned and so that identifying those is a benefit to me. They may never come up, but it does help me to plan and have maybe a plan B. I definitely learned that.” (P24)
	Learning from setbacks	“Well, they went well because when I'd meet a goal, I was pretty proud of myself. When I didn't, I would–instead of beatin' myself up, I would say, ‘Okay, this is why you didn't, and this is what you need to do.’ The goal setting was good.” (P15)
	Coping with setbacks	“I think one of the biggest perspectives that I was able to come to is that you're always gonna have potential setbacks, but your—or some days are just not gonna be your day, but every day is a new day and a new opportunity to change that.” (P04)
	Setting realistic goals	“Yeah, so in the past I've always when I wanted to work out post‐treatment I was really concerned about the stamina. One of the things that I did throughout coaching was come to the realization that it doesn't need to be this super intense workout. It can be really simple or low impact or anything, and I'll still be okay. That was a big part of my goal process.” (P01)
Program Impact
Stress reduction and mood improvement	Mindfulness as stress management	“She [health coach] really helped me, gave me some breathing exercises, and it sort of calmed me because sometimes when you live alone and you don't work, your mind can be your worst enemy …” (P40)
	Enhanced ability to cope with stress	“Well, it definitely helped me focus in on the stresses and stressors in my life and at certain times and what was bothering me and focus on the specifics and address one thing at a time. What could I do right now to manage the stress that I'm feeling right now, from whatever it is? I feel like it definitely helped me to decrease my level of stress that I was experiencing, and it continues to help me.” (P23)
Improved sleep	Mindfulness enhancing sleep	“Just by those mindful moments and taking time to quiet down and clear my mind. Sleep a little better.” (P18)
	Changing sleep behaviors	“I was getting five and a half to six hours a night, because I would watch TV until I just got bored to death or really tired. Now, I'm goin' to bed. I'm not even turnin' it on. I'm getting about seven to seven and a half hours sleep a night. It makes me have a little more energy during the day.” (P22)
	Other health behavior change influencing sleep	“I was in a lotta pain and discomfort, and like I said, goin' through two or three different surgeries at one time, I wasn't sleepin' really good. I was tossin' and turnin'. I sleep pretty good right now. Pretty much pain‐free right now. I know some of that got to do with losing the weight.” (P35)
Coping with physical discomfort		“Well, with physical discomfort, there's days that are better. Some days are worse. It helps me to able to see what I can do to manage it a lot better in a way. When I do feel discomfort, I know how to deal with it.” (P21)
Improved communication		“I definitely think maybe improved communication. Communication's already a really big deal to me, but I definitely feel that I'm able to communicate my body's needs and how I'm feeling about certain instances or whatever with myself, my partner, my doctors.” (P01)