Table 1.

 Group process for data collection

Step no.	Group process steps	Rationale	Data Collected
1	Two researchers facilitated each group session	A physician and an educator contributed to the facilitation of each group
2	Both patients and physicians interacted and participated throughout the group process	Patient and physician perspectives were represented throughout and informed the development of thought and comments
3	One researcher (BL) presented a definition of shared decision making 10	The definition of shared decision making was explained and components posted on the wall to establish shared language within the groups
4	One researcher (BL) shared a clinical example of shared decision making and read a patient narrative	Stories in which shared decision making occurred provided clear examples and further established a shared language
5	Each large group discussed the examples	Participants identified components of shared decision making they heard in the examples and discussed their reactions	Audiotapes and transcripts of large‐group discussions
6	In patient–physician pairs or trios, participants shared and discussed specific positive examples of shared decision making from their own experiences	Asking participants to identify positive examples of shared decision making from their own experience as physicians or patients provided material from which they could draw detailed descriptions of behaviours and attitudes that had facilitated successful sharing of decisions	Written descriptions of behaviours and attitudes of patients and physicians who had engaged in successful shared decision making
7	Participants shared the attitudes and behaviours they had identified with the large group, working together with the researchers to group them as preliminary themes and suggest a label for each emerging theme	Research participants participated in initial interpretation and data analysis by assisting with development of preliminary themes and providing comments that explained their rationale	The written descriptions of behaviours and attitudes of patients and physicians (from step 6) were grouped in categories. Audiotape transcripts of the discussion of these behaviours and attitudes provided additional data
8	Participants each chose one emerging theme, worked in small groups to develop communication strategies to implement these themes, and presented these strategies to the large group	Small groups provided an opportunity for participants to work in depth with a few behaviours and/or attitudes that facilitate shared decision making among patients or physicians or both. Presentations to the large group provided more detailed explanations of participants’ insights	Audiotape transcriptions of small group presentations and comments from the larger group