Table 1.

Characteristics of participants

Pregnant women with cardiac disease (n = 13)∗
Age	34 ± 4 y (range, 26-40 y)
Employment	Employed full time (n = 7, 53.8%) Self-employed (n = 2, 15.4%) Employed part time (n = 1, 7.7%) Homemaker (n = 1, 7.7%)
Education	Postgraduate degree (n = 2, 15.4%) Undergraduate degree (n = 5, 38.5%) College diploma (n = 6, 46.2%)
Ethnicity	Caucasian (n = 8, 61.5%) South Asian (n = 2, 15.4%) East Asian (n = 1, 7.7%) African or Afro-Caribbean (n = 2, 15.4%)
Gestational age	29 ± 7 wk (range, 16-37 wk)
Cardiac disease	Complex congenital heart disease (n = 4, 3.1%) Valvular heart disease (n = 2, 15.4%) Electrical heart disease (n = 6, 46.2%) Ischaemic heart disease (n = 1, 7.7%)
Health care providers (n = 10)
Role	Cardiologist (n = 5, 50%) Obstetrician/maternal-fetal medicine physician (n = 3, 33.3%) Anaesthesiologist (n = 1, 10%) Cardiac nurse practitioner (n = 1, 10%)
Region, Country	Toronto, Ontario, Canada (n = 5, 50%) London, Ontario, Canada (n = 1, 10%) Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada (n = 1, 10%) California, USA (n = 1, 10%) Amsterdam, The Netherlands (n = 1, 10%) London, UK (n = 1, 10%)

^∗Ten pregnant women with cardiac disease participated in individual interviews and 3 in shared interviews with their spouses.