Table 2.

Formation of themes

Overarching Theme	Theme	No. of Codes Associated with Theme	No. of Items of Evidence Associated with Theme	No. of Papers Associated with Theme
Commencing or withholding
Patient factors	Deliberation of factors	45	228	11
	Gut instinct	28	45	10
	Coping mechanisms	34	61	9
Health care team factors	Biomedical criteria	17	62	11
	Ethical dilemma	6	17	2
Patient and health care team interaction	Power and communication	71	124	10
Dialysis withdrawal
Life on dialysis	Experiential knowledge	42	30	9
Patient factors	Facing withdrawal	39	62	8
	Family influence	7	29	5
Health care team factors	Avoidance	49	67	4
	Genuine request	10	15	3
Patient and health care team interaction	Doing trumps talking	29	34	7
	If not now, when?	19	7	5