Table 1.

Characteristics of the seven stages of the Candidacy Framework

Stages of candidacy	Description of stages
Identification of candidacy	The process by which individuals come to view themselves as legitimate candidates for particular services
Navigation of services	Knowing how to interact with appropriate services in relation to identified candidacy
Permeability of services	Includes the level of explicit, implicit gate-keeping within a service and the complexity of its referral systems referring to the ‘cultural alignment’ between users and services
Appearing at services and asserting candidacy	The actions that individuals must take to assert their candidacy in an interaction with a healthcare professional
Adjudication by professionals	Candidacy, as expressed by service-users, is validated or otherwise by healthcare professionals which influences subsequent service offers
Offers of, resistance to, services	Emphasises that follow-up services may be appropriately or inappropriately offered and that these may or may not be acted upon by service-users
Operating conditions and local production of candidacy	This incorporates factors that influence decisions about subsequent service provision (e.g. the resources available for addressing candidacy) and the kinds of contingent relationships that develop between professionals and service-users over a few encounters

Source: [16]