Table 1.

Participant characteristics

				Interviews
Patient number	Gender, Age	Aetiology of heart failure	NYHA class	T1	T2	T3	Duration in study (months)	Alive or dead at end of study	Bereavement interviews
1	Female, 57	Hypertensive heart disease	III	P	P	P	6	Alive
2	Female, 35	Hypertensive heart disease	IV	P	P	P&C	6	Alive
3	Male, 65	Dilated cardiomyopathy	IV	P	P	P	6	Alive
4	Male, 75	Right-sided heart failure (from COPD)	III	P&C	P&C	P&C	6	Alive
5	Male, 31	Right-sided heart failure (from pulmonary fibrosis)	IV	P	P	P	6	Alive
6	Female, 60	Hypertensive heart disease	IV	P&C	†		2	Dead	✓
7	Male, 50	Dilated cardiomyopathy	III	P	P	P	6	Alive
8	Female, 50	Hypertensive heart disease	III	P	P&C	P	6	Alive
9	Male, 38	Hypertensive heart disease	III	P	Untraceable		1	Not known
10	Male, 45	Right-sided heart failure (from COPD)	IV	P	P	†	5	Dead	X—carer lived beyond 35 km from recruiting hospital
11	Female, 50	Hypertensive heart disease	III	P	P	P	6	Alive
12	Female, 19	Extra pulmonary tuberculosis	IV	P	P	P	6	Alive
13	Male, 60	Hypertensive heart disease	III	P&C	P	P	6	Alive
14	Female, 60	Hypertensive heart disease	IV	P&C	†		1	Dead	✓
15	Female, 31	Dilated cardiomyopathy	III	P	Untraceable		1	Not known
16	Female, 33	Hypertensive heart disease	III	P	P	P	6	Alive
17	Female, 50	Hypertensive heart disease	III	P	P	Untraceable	5	Not known
18	Male, 36	Right-sided heart failure (from COPD)	IV	P	Untraceable		1	Not known

†Death.

C, Carer; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; NYHA, New York Heart Association; P, Patient; T1, 1st interview; T2, 2nd interview; T3, 3rd interview.