Table 2.
Major and sub-themes with their definitions
| Theme | Sub-theme | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Impact | Impact on daily life | Effect of breathlessness on the lives of patients’, their families and the physicians caring for them |
| Examples of effects on patients’ lives | ||
| Common | Breathlessness is perceived as a common issue | |
| Trajectory | Progression of disease prognosis | |
| Family | Effects on family, carers and those close to patient | |
| Physicians find it difficult | Effect of patients with breathlessness on physicians personally | |
| Invisibility | Presentation | The unseen suffering of those with breathlessness |
| Multifactorial causes and how patients present to healthcare | ||
| Assessment | How breathlessness is identified, measured and assessed by physicians | |
| Management | Treatment for chronic breathlessness, covers advice given to patients and hopelessness/ “nothing can be done” attitude and barriers towards accessing palliative care | |
| Difference in patient’s and physician’s wishes | Patients’ and physicians’ aims of care may differ | |
| Purpose | Definition | If, why and how chronic breathlessness syndrome should be defined Of chronic breathlessness; disabling breathlessness despite optimal treatment of underlying condition. |
| Consequences | Includes prevention of chronic breathlessness, improving management, services and research purposes | |
| Pain | Comparison to chronic pain syndrome or pain as a symptom |