Table 2.

Phases within the chronic illness trajectory with definitions and examples.

Phase	Definition	Themes	Examples quotes
Pretrajectory	Before symptom presentation	N/Aa	N/A
Trajectory onset	Initial symptom presentation and diagnosis	Participants respond to the new diagnosis by contacting health professionals and receiving new information.	“[The endocrinologists] give us a list of what to eat and what not to eat. But sometimes you do it, sometimes you don’t.” [P13, female, age 78 years]
Stable	Symptoms are under control and life activities continue within the limitations of the symptoms	Participants try to overcome inertia and find a new normal to discover what works for them.	“There’s a group online, about 200 people that have all done low-carb [diet], lost 100 pounds...and got their blood A1Cs right down. It seems to be the answer to me.” [P14, male, age 63 years]
Unstable	Symptoms start to get out of control and life activities are adjusted to cope with increasing health demands	Participants react to instability, taking up new tasks, new tools, and new information.	“I’m probably on about 14 [medications] at the moment, because I’ve just had to add two tablets too...when I had my bloods done for my endocrinologist, it came back and I’m very low on iron...he’s put me on iron tablets.” [P6, female, age 72 years]
Acute	Severe exacerbations of symptoms that require normal life activities to be paused	Participants rely on others to maintain basic functionality by prioritizing certain health needs over others.	“When I got told I’m going to be on dialysis, well I had a lot of trouble trying to accept that and kept avoiding it, until I was so sick I had to go on it.” [P11, male, age 76 years]
Crisis	A critical or life-threatening situation where urgent medical care is required	Participants cannot conduct self-management and can only react to crisis points.	“I was not allowed to eat anything. I was not allowed to even drink water, because there was a possibility for surgery at that time.” [P1, male age 67 years]
Comeback	Gradually return to an acceptable level of everyday life	Participants adopt to long-lasting changes and deal with mental distress during adjustment to a new normal.	“Just getting you out of bed and walking, just walking up the end of the corridor and back and that used to exhaust me. But once it’s all over and done with you feel fine. Two weeks of rehab.” [P17, male, age 70 years]
Downward	Consistent decline in health	N/A	N/A
Dying	Final days before death	N/A	N/A

^aN/A: not applicable.