Equator network reporting checklist—COREQ checklist

Item	Guide questions/descriptions	Reported on page #
Domain 1. Research team and reflexivity
Personal characteristics
Interviewer/facilitator	Which author/s conducted the interview or focus group?	p. 6
Credentials	What were the researcher’s credentials? (e.g. PhD, MD)	p. 6, title page
Occupation	What was their occupation at the time of the study?	p. 6
Gender	Was the researcher male or female?	p. 6
Experience and training	What experience or training did the researcher have?	p. 6
Relationship with participants
Relationship established	Was a relationship established prior to study commencement?	p. 7
Participant knowledge of the interviewer	What did the participants know about the researcher? (e.g. personal goals, reasons for doing the research)	p. 7, Supplement 1
Interviewer characteristics	What characteristics were reported about the interviewer/facilitator? (e.g. bias, assumptions, reasons and interests in the research topic)	N/A, not reported. However, interviewer biases and assumptions were documented in a reflexivity journal.
Domain 2: Study design
Theoretical framework
Methodological orientation and theory	What methodological orientation was stated to underpin the study? (e.g. grounded theory, discourse analysis, ethnography, phenomenology and content analysis)	p. 6–7
Participant selection
Sampling	How were participants selected? (e.g. purposive, convenience, consecutive and snowball)	p. 6
Method of approach	How were participants approached? (e.g. face-to-face, telephone, mail and e-mail)	p. 6
Sample size	How many participants were in the study?	p. 9
Nonparticipation	How many people refused to participate or dropped out? Reasons?	p. 9
Setting
Setting of data collection	Where was the data collected? (e.g. home, clinic and workplace)	p. 7, 9–10, Table 2
Presence of nonparticipants	Was anyone else present besides the participants and researchers?	p. 10
Description of sample	What are the important characteristics of the sample? (e.g. demographic data and date)	p. 9–10, Table 2
Data collection
Interview guide	Were questions, prompts, guides provided by the authors? Was it pilot tested?	p. 7, Supplement 1
Repeat interviews	Were repeat interviews carried out? If yes, how many?	p. 7
Audio/visual recording	Did the research use audio or visual recording to collect the data?	p. 7
Field notes	Were field notes made during and/or after the interview or focus group?	p. 7
Duration	What was the duration of the interviews or focus group?	p. 9–10
Data saturation	Was data saturation discussed?	p. 8
Transcripts returned	Were transcripts returned to participants for comment and/or correction?	p. 7
Domain 3: Analysis and findings
Data analysis
Number of data coders	How many data coders coded the data?	p. 8
Description of the coding tree	Did authors provide a description of the coding tree?	p. 7–8, 10, Table 3
Derivation of themes	Were themes identified in advance or derived from the data?	p. 7–8
Software	What software, if applicable, was used to manage the data?	p. 7
Participant checking	Did participants provide feedback on the findings?	p. 7–8
Reporting
Quotations presented	Were participant quotations presented to illustrate the themes/findings? Was each quotation identified? (e.g. participant number)	Table 3
Data and findings consistent	Was there consistency between the data presented and the findings?	p. 10–14, Table 3
Clarity of major themes	Were major themes clearly presented in the findings?	p. 10–14
Clarity of minor themes	Is there a description of diverse cases or discussion of minor themes?	p. 10–14, Table 3