Table 1.
Semi-structured interview guide for patients and patient representatives
| Topic | Question | Probes |
|---|---|---|
| Patient outcomes | 1) What difficulties have you (or the people you represent) experienced in your/their everyday/family life due to this condition? | - What were you/they not able to do in your/their day-to-day life because of the condition? |
| 2) If you think about a time when you (or the people you represent) used the primary care service, what benefits did they get from this? | - How did the condition limit what you/they could do, and how did the care you/they received make a difference to that? | |
| 3) What do you think people are looking for when they see the GP/use primary care services? What do they want to get out of it? | - In what way(s) was your/their life improved afterwards? | |
| - What helped you/them to get what you/they needed/wanted? | ||
| - What prevented you/them them from getting what you/they needed/wanted? | ||
| 4) Has anything changed for you/your family/the patients you represent as a result of your/their use of primary care services? | - Can you say more about what those improvements are? | |
| 5) Are there any ways in which your life/your family life/the family lives of the patients you represent became more difficult following your/their use of primary care services? | - Can you say more about what those difficulties are? | |
| Patient empowerment as a measurable outcome | 6) What does the term “patient empowerment” mean to you? | - Please describe health interventions or health services that promote patient empowerment. |
| 7) Would a patient questionnaire capturing the degree of patient empowerment be useful to assess the quality of primary care services? | - What sorts of practical things would make it hard to use a patient questionnaire capturing patient empowerment effectively to assess the quality of primary care services? | |
| - What sorts of practical things would support use of such a questionnaire? |