Table 2.

Operationalization of social interaction, social support, and source of support for this secondary analysis.

Variable	Operationalization in this study
Social interaction	Topic [83]: the content of the discussion about self-management, T2D, or living with chronic illness
	Ties (strong/weak) [67,68]: amount and duration of contact, intensity of emotions, reciprocity of interaction
	Depth [66,69]: degree of intimacy and personalization of discussed topics
	Breadth [66,69]: number of topics discussed
	Participation (active/passive): present and talking; present, not talking
Social support (4 categories as noted in the literature [70-74])	Emotional: exchange of feelings of trust, caring, love, belongingness, and warmth when discussing T2D self-management or behaviors
	Instrumental: exchange of tangible goods or services related to T2D self-management
	Informational: exchange of T2D-specific information among individuals
	Appraisal: exchange of praise for a T2D self-management behavior or action
	Emergent codes: to capture instances in the conversations not covered by the 4 categories of social support
Source of support (providers of support and/or education within the CME)	Provider: nurse practitioners, certified diabetes educator, principal investigator of SLIDES
	Peer: another individual with T2D