Table 1.
Characteristics of Interviewees and Their Practices n = 42
| Characteristic | Individual Interviews (n = 20) | Focus Groups (n = 22) |
|---|---|---|
| Age: mean (S.D.) years | 53.5 (11.7) | 51.3 (9.9) |
| Age range: years | 38–76 | 35–67 |
| Gender: n | ||
| Male | 10 | 14 |
| Female | 10 | 8 |
| Race: n | ||
| White | 18 | 10 |
| Other* | 2 | 12 |
| Hispanic ethnicity: n | 1 | 2 |
| Primary Care (Rural): n | ||
| General Internal Medicine | 0 | 2 |
| Family Practice | 0 | 5 |
| Primary Care (Non-Rural): n | ||
| General Internal Medicine | 7 | 4 |
| Family Practice | 1 | 3 |
| Specialty (Non-Rural): n | ||
| Rheumatology | 2 | 2 |
| Neurology | 6 | 2 |
| Obstetrics/gynecology | 2 | 2 |
| Orthopedics | 2 | 1 |
| Ophthalmology | 0 | 1 |
| Time in practice: range of years | ||
| 0–5 | 0 | 0 |
| 5–10 | 1 | 6 |
| 11–20 | 6 | 9 |
| 21–30 | 4 | 6 |
| 31+ | 9 | 1 |
| Type of practice: n | ||
| Private, not hospital-based | 4 | 19 |
| Hospital based practice | 16 | 2 |
| Other | 0 | 1 |
| U.S. region of practice: n | ||
| South | 0 | 8 |
| Midwest | 0 | 8 |
| West | 0 | 3 |
| Northeast† | 20 | 3 |
*
For focus group recruitment, SERMO allowed participants to self-identify race. Of those who designated “other,” 5 identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, 1 as African American Black Caribbean 1 as Jewish, and 1 as Indo-Pakistani., and 2 as Mixed (with 1 participant specifying Asian and Caucasian).
†
Physicians were recruited from Massachusetts for individual interviews.