Table 2.

Interview topic guide

The focus group began with an introduction on the study with some background information provided about high blood pressure (with the term hypertension being introduced and defined) and self-management
1. Where did you hear about the study—did you volunteer or were you recruited?
2. What was your initial reaction when you were asked to join?
3. Were you looking forward to it and why? (If not, why not?)
4. When was your hypertension diagnosed and how is it managed?
5. Do you know a lot about hypertension and if so, where have you found out this information?
6. What do you do yourself to manage your hypertension?
7. Do you use technology such as mobile phones, the internet, Apps in your everyday life?
8. How do you find working with such technology?
9. Do you find such technologies useful and if so for what?
10. Do you have concerns or difficulties in your use of technology in your everyday life?
11. Do you use such technologies in your everyday life for managing your health? (examples: physical activity tracking, medication reminder, diet tracking and advice?)
12. Do you use such technologies in your everyday life specifically for managing your hypertension?
13. Did you have any other strategies besides technology for managing your hypertension?
14. How did you feel about letting people around you know that you were trying to manage your hypertension?
15. Would you be interested in being part of an online or face to face forum with other people with hypertension to share tips, and motivate and help each other?
16. Is there anything else that you think would be helpful or motivating to you in managing your hypertension?
17. You are now going to be shown an example of a web-based tool (Fig. 1) which would be available on your mobile device or computer which is being designed to help people manage their own hypertension. What is your initial reaction to such a tool?
18. Are there aspects of the tool that you would find useful and you might use?
19. Are there aspects of the tool that you would definitely not be interested in?
20. Why do you think such a tool might be useful to you?
21. Would you have any concerns about using such a tool?
22. What is the best thing about this tool?
23. What improvements would you like to see to the tool to improve its benefits?
24. Would you consider using social media i.e. Facebook or Twitter etc. to discuss your hypertension?
25. What role will managing your hypertension play for you in that future?
26. Are there any further issues you would like to discuss?