Table 2.

Themes Relating to “How” Participants Want to be Communicated With.

Theme	Example
Nonverbal	Positive: “Let’s just say his bedside manner and his openness were conducive to asking questions and getting really good responses.” “Well she sat down and looked right at me, she reached out to me a couple of times to reassure me or to communicate compassion about how I was feeling, she just listened really intently and responded to specific questions that I asked.” Negative: “My dad was always aware of this was that they’re rushed.”
Verbal	Positive: “So he shared his own personal experience with his father being in a similar situation so there was an immediate trust and empathy…” “He did not appear to be judgmental, I think he was gentle and used humor well and I enjoyed that.” “They spoke to you. They didn’t speak down to you, they spoke directly about the problem.”
Active listening	Positive: “I’m not quite sure how to explain this but definitely more of an empathetic approach and again part of that is listening and the dialogue what have you.” “I mean where you’re not just giving results but you’re really trying to help the patient and their family [understand] what is going on and what are the different factors involved.”
Location	Negative: “I don’t think you should ever tell somebody that their mother is dying standing in a hall corridor.”