Reference	Country	Care‐setting	Recruitment from trial	Population	Participants interviewed (N)	Age in years, m (SD)	Sex, n (%) male	Ethnicity, n (%) white	Facilitator	Modality
Aschbrenner et al. 34	USA	Three public mental health centers	Yes	Diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, major depression, or bipolar disorder	30	NR	15 (50%)	NR	One facilitator plus one operator	Six semistructured focus groups each of 3–8 persons
Aschbrenner et al. 35	USA	A community mental health team	Trial development	Diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression	10	46.6 (8.7)	1 (10%)	9 (90%)	NR	Semistructured interview; 45–60 min each
Barre et al. 46	USA	Mental health center	No	SMI NOS	31	Range: 30–61	NR	NR	NR	Semistructured, 1:1 interview
Bochicchio et al. 47	USA	Supportive housing	Yes	Intervention participants self‐reported with SMI, plus intervention peer specialists and supervisors	Intervention participants: 28 Peer specialists: 4 Supervisors: 5	Intervention participants:49 (9.27) Peer specialists: 44.72 (7.41) Supervisors: 34.25 (10.2)	Intervention participants: 14 (50%) Peer specialists: 2 (50%) Supervisors: 1 (20%)	Intervention participants: 6 (21%) Peer specialists: 1 (25%) Supervisors: 3 (60%)	Trained research assistant	A 1:1 interview; 1 h each
Carey et al. 48	UK	Community mental health teams	Trial development	A clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or FEP	Unclear	NR	NR	NR	NR	Participants were invited to one of four pilot cohorts to provide feedback
Every‐Palmer et al. 49	New Zealand	Three medium secure units; one minimum secure; and one unlocked unit	No	ICD diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or psychosis NOS	51	38 (10.4)	40 (78%)	0 (0%)	Researcher known to the participant	Semistructured, 1:1 interview; 40 min each
Gandhi et al. 50	South India	Tertiary mental health institute	No	ICD‐10 diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorders	5 + 13 caregivers	43.2 (NR)	NR	NR	Researcher NOS	Semistructured interview; 40–60 min each
Gossage‐Worral et al. 51	UK	Ten English NHS mental health trusts in urban and rural locations	Trial process evaluation	A clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or FEP (defined as <3 years since presentation to mental health services)	Intervention participants: 24	Range: 18–55	12 (50%)	20 (83.3)	NR	Semistructured telephone interview; median duration: 18.87; range: 13.06 to 30.33 min
Jimenez et al. 52	USA	NR	Yes	DSM‐IV diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or major depression	20	40.25 (10.4)	11 (55%)	0 (0%)—all participants Latino	NR	Semistructured, 1:1 interview; 60–90 min each
Lesley et al. 53	USA	NR	Yes	SMI NOS	11	NR	2 (18%)	NR	Nurse researcher	A 1:1 interview
Muralidharan et al. 36	USA	Greater Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Centre	Yes	Schizophrenia spectrum disorders, affective psychoses, or posttraumatic stress disorder	48	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Nover 37	USA	A community clinic	Yes	SMI NOS	11	Range: 45–63	2 (18%)	11 (100%)	Lead author	Semistructured, 1:1 interview; 45 min each
O'Hara et al. 38	USA	Supportive housing	Trial development	Self‐reported SMI including schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression	8	NR for the qualitative study	NR for the qualitative study	NR for the qualitative study	Research assistant	Two focus groups and field notes
Olmos‐Ochoa et al. 39	USA	NR	Yes	DSM‐IV diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, recurrent major depressive disorder with psychosis, or chronic posttraumatic stress disorder	Participants from MOVE! SMI: 24 Participants from WebMOVE: 24	Participants from MOVE! SMI: 53.7 (10.5) Participants from WebMOVE: 45.4 (6.0)	Participants from MOVE! SMI: Unclear (21%) Participants from WebMOVE: Unclear (19%)	Participants from MOVE! SMI: 12 (50%) Participants from WebMOVE: 7 (29.2%)	Three assessors NOS	A 1:1 interview; 15–30 min
Park et al. 40	Australia	NR	Yes	Diagnosed with schizophrenia	10	Range: 30–65	2 (20%)	NR	Mental health professional not involved in the RCT	Interview in a setting of participants' choice; 30–60 min
Pearsall et al. 41	UK	A community mental health team	No—perspectives of those who declined to participate in a trial	Diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective or bipolar affective disorder	13	54.6 (NR)	Unclear (50%)	NR	Lead author	Interview at the community base or participants' home; 30–40 min
Sayer et al. 42	USA	A supportive housing building and nearby neighbourhoods	No	SMI NOS	55. Note: only 38 participants provided personal and demographic characteristics	52.4 (NR)	17 (44.7%)	0 (0%)—all participants were African American	Team leader with experience of mental illness	Five focus groups with 6–12 persons; 90 min each
Shiner et al. 43	USA	NR	Yes	SMI NOS	8	43.0 (±15.3)	5 (62.5%)	8 (100%)	Lead author	Semistructured, 1:1 interview; 1 h each
Vazin et al. 44	USA	Six psychiatric rehabilitation program sites	Yes	Diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression or other diagnosis	20	Range: 20–70	10 (50%)	14 (70%)	Intervention staff	Semistructured, 1:1 interview; 20–30 min each
Yarborough et al. 45	USA	Three community mental health clinics	Yes	Diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, affective psychosis, or PTSD	84	48.1 (10.1)	30 (36%)	66 (79%)	Master's and doctoral level research staff	A 1:1 interview

Note: DSM‐IV, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, 4th Edition; FEP, first episode psychosis; ICD‐10, International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Edition; NOS, not otherwise specified; NR, not reported; SMI, serious mental illness; 1:1, one‐to‐one.