Table 2. Ranking of research topics in priority order by the lay and professional stakeholder group.

Ranking Highest (1) to lowest (10) priority	Topic	Summary of comments
1	Early shared decision- making (SDM)	Research on incorporating SDM early on in the care pathway was advocated, with an emphasis on the need to equip women as well as health professionals with the skills needed to engage in SDM.
2	Pre-conception care	Pre-conception was identified as a critical time during which good quality timely discussion on starting a family needs to happen.
3	Information: medication	High quality, evidence-based, consistent information needs to be provided to women on the use of disease modifying and analgesic medication during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
4	Personalised care	Individual women’s needs and the availability of local services vary, and pathways of care can be unclear. Ways of providing more personalised care should be investigated, e.g. dedicated case-workers to develop needs-based individually tailored packages of care.
5	Support for women’s social network	The group highlighted the need to investigate the support needs of women’s close social network, such as partners and family members, and for the women themselves. This could include counselling and social support for partners and family members.
6	Information: specific to disease and local area	The need for research on information needs in relation to specific diseases and tailored to the local area (due to variability in services), e.g. using leaflets and educational materials about local services and support, and condition/treatment specific information to guide women through their journey to motherhood.
7	SDM across the care pathway	As well as incorporating SDM early on after diagnosis, research was required about how SDM can be incorporated at every stage of women’s journeys towards parenthood, including particularly pain control. Ideas for supporting consistent use of SDM included a 'one stop shop' with counsellors, primary care physicians, and other members of the multi-disciplinary team in developing long-term care plans.
8	Peer-support	Research on peer-support was considered important, as this is widely used by women but the quality and impact of this type of support is untested. Research on high quality, online, peer-support was advocated, including how health professionals might interact with this and how it could be tailored to local health service contexts.
9	Health inequalities	The group expressed concerns about growing inequalities in health, and how this might impact on women with autoimmune rheumatic diseases. A need for research on tackling social inequalities in health, and developing equity-enhancing interventions was highlighted.
10	Holistic/alternative therapies	The need for evidence on safety and efficacy of alternative and holistic therapies (taking into account potential placebo effects), and providing professional guidance to women on their use was also important.