Table 2. Participants’ informational needs from the VHA (N=28).

Theme	Properties	Description	Exemplar
Risk-reducing behaviors/habits	❖ Diet	After interacting with the VHA, participants express a need for information regarding behaviors they can change or actions they can take to reduce the risk of colon cancer	“Probably what I was asking other than red meat and smoking; is there something else I should avoid. Is there some food that help preventing it, if I eat more of those? How does the genetic stuffs can contribute? If I have a genetical history or this disease, how that could impact me?”—P28, female, 50
	❖ Lifestyle
	❖ Nutrition
	❖ Environment
Post-intervention procedures	❖ Procedure for ordering FIT kit	After interacting with the VHA, participants convey a lack of information or understanding regarding the steps to be taken next	“I have confusion about who is going to send me the supposed home test kit. So to whom I should call to send the FIT kit to collect the specimen. So that was one thing.”—P26, female, 47
	❖ Procedure for sending the sample to the lab
	❖ Contact point for ordering FIT kit
CRC-related content	❖ CRC symptoms	After interacting with the VHA, participants specifically mention other aspects of CRC they don’t know about or wish they had heard about	“Yeah, definitely. I would like to see, like their mentioning it somehow or maybe like show, like what are like the stages each person has and like pictures or like visual things showing what it might look like.”—P8, female, 18
	❖ CRC causes
	❖ CRC effects on body and life
	❖ Different stages of CRC and how they look on the human body
Financial considerations of FIT	❖ Insurance information	After interacting with the VHA, participants convey or directly state confusion or lack of information about financial aspects of CRC screening	“I don’t know, it doesn’t say anything about insurance, whether this test is covered by insurance, so that [is] probably something you can incorporate. Yeah, if it’s the US guideline to have for all insurance companies to cover this, it’s for persons within that age range, then I think it should mention that so that question doesn’t arise because otherwise, if you leave some questions unanswered, then people would end up calling the PCP, and then the whole purpose of it will fail, right?”—P10, male, 35
	❖ Cost of FIT
	❖ Whether the intervention is free
Personalized content/options	❖ Age	After interacting with the VHA, participants convey a preference for information more tailored toward individual backgrounds and needs	“One of the options was the complication of going to a colonoscopy, which one is for me cost, preparation, something but I noticed it wasn’t there for any other barriers, there was no other options. For example, if it was my mom, none of this would apply to her. Her only thing would be she doesn’t have anybody to go with her or language issue. So, that wasn’t there.”—P17, female, 32
	❖ Race and ethnicity
	❖ Knowledge
Pre-test (pre-FIT) information	❖ Test preparation	After interacting with the VHA, participants express lack of understanding of or information about the screening procedure or preparations for the screening	“How long it could take to test? If I make a mistake, what should I do?”—P14, male, 64
	❖ Test time
	❖ Test procedure
Comparison to other CRC screening options	❖ Compare with colonoscopy	After interacting with the VHA, participants mention they need to know how FIT compares with other screening methods to comprehend the benefits (or the lack of benefits) of FIT	“What would have made me say, ‘Alright, this is unpleasant, but I will still do it, if I were told what the alternative is. Which is a colorectomy, which I’m assuming is very painful. I don’t know.’ If those are my alternatives. If the person said that ‘You could do a colorectomy, but it’s super painful’ or ‘You could do this, which is unpleasant, but not painful,’ I would probably be, ‘Alright, fine, I'll do this.”—P23, male, 38
	❖ Compare pros and cons of the available CRC screening methods
More specificity of information	❖ Use of more measurable language (e.g., number of days, frequency of use)	After interacting with the VHA, participants mention confusion about certain information provided in terms of it being ambiguous or vague, and ask for more clarity	“In terms of the questions that were asked, there could really be more a bit more specific time range… for example like the red meat one that I mentioned. What would ‘occasionally’ mean? Because different cultures have different eating habits. For me, I don’t really eat that much red meat anymore but there was a time when occasionally would be like once a week. Right now, it’s once a year sort of thing.”—P11, male, 34
	❖ Reduce use of language that varies individually (e.g., some, most, often)

VHA, virtual health assistant; FIT, fecal immunochemical test; CRC, colorectal cancer; PCP, primary care provider.