Table 4 The four steps of the analysis process in systematic text condensation according to Malterud [25]

1

Read transcripts to get a total impression of the data

The impression: Women related to their previous experiences and knowledge when they talked about new knowledge and ideas gained from using the DA.

→ Identify preliminary themes

Preliminary theme: The effect of pre-understanding

2

Identify and sort relevant text units i.e. meaning units

Text unit: ‘When we continued reading, we thought there’s not really that much you can find out about, except well, it was Down’s syndrome (…) And I don’t think that Down’s syndrome is so bad if my child should have that’.

→ Meaning units are sorted to create code groups

Code group: Significance of earlier experiences and knowledge

3

Condense the meaning in each code group as if it is a story told by one person

Abstraction: I understood that the test would not give us any information apart from possible DS and I don’t think that’s such a serious condition.

→ The meaning of code is clarified through abstraction

Meaning: New knowledge about the test and women’s preconceptions affected their views.

4

Summarise the essence of each code group to a synthesis

Essence: New knowledge gained from the DA was comprehended in light of earlier understanding regarding DS.

→ Validate the results by re-reading transcripts

Re-reading transcripts: confirmed that the code group matched statements in the interviews and that the theme recurred in most of the other interviews.