Table 3 Interview quotations that illustrate the themes from the interactional analysis

1 Informative, thorough and clear communication

Quote 1.1:

“you could see what was going on in their head a little bit”

AN-SP25R-01 (PA) (PT interview)

Quote 1.2:

“For a person that I haven’t met before, [they were] really good with explaining information…it’s hard to find doctors who can actually sit you down and take you through everything.”⁶

AN-SP29–01 (PT Interview)

Quote 1.3:

“Yeah, I mean [they were] very thorough”

AN-SP26–02 (PT Interview)

Quote 1.4:

“[they] definitely addressed everything that we needed to think about.”

AN-SP30R01 (PT Interview)

2 Explanations delivered in clearly signalled components

Quote 2.1:

“The way they structure it... instead of jumping from one information to the other, [they] must have structured the whole entire appointment, yeah, which was really good.”

AN-SP29–01 (PT Interview)

Quote 2.2:

“talked point by point... rather than looking at the big, scary picture. Sort of broke it down, which made it a lot easier to be able to discuss you know, the little details, and then building up into the... the big conversations”

AN-SP36R-01 (PT Interview)

3. Feeling listened to and their experience acknowledged (especially anxiety)

Quote 3.1:

“they didn’t just cut me off and dismiss my... concerns”

AN-SP34R-02 (PT Interview)

Quote 3.2:

“it felt like it’s okay to be worried kind of you know, like it’s okay how you’re feeling”

AN-SP25R-01 (PT Interview)

4. Feeling able to ask questions and get them answered

Quote 4.1:

“Lots of opportunity to ask questions”

AN-SP30R-01 (PT Interview)

Quote 4.2:

“I did ask a lot of questions…. but they were all answered, so yeah.”

AN-SP31–02 (PT Interview)

5. Consideration of patient wishes and provision of options

Quote 5.1:

“[they] gave us options”

AN-SP27–02 (PT Interview)

Quote 5.2:

“Just like, ask me my opinion, what I want to do”

AN-SP31–01 (PT Interview)

6. Realistic and honest communication

Quote 6.1:

“[they are] quite realistic, so that’s something I like to know. I don’t want to bat around the bridges.”

AN-SP29–01 (PT Interview)

Quote 6.2:

“it felt it felt very open … and kind of factual and that they weren’t hiding anything i suppose”

AN-SP25R-01 (PT Interview)

7. Good rapport

Quote 7.1:

“[they] made me feel very at ease pretty quickly … [they] seemed very relaxed, and … I guess it made me more relaxed too”

AN-SP36R-01 (PT interview)

Quote 7.2:

“[they] made me feel very comfortable”

AN-SP28R-02 (PT interview)

8. Patient displays of knowledge

Quote 8.1:

“I think she came in with a good idea about these risks.”

AN-SP29–01 (SP Interview)

Quote 8.2:

“They were a lovely couple that had already done a lot of reading... which makes it a lot easier. I think it’s difficult when people come in and they have either done no reading, or have no idea about which way they want to go. And then it becomes a lot more difficult, because of the clinic... we do kind of pressure them into trying to make a decision one way or the other. But then that is difficult to make such a big decision in a sort of 15 to 30-min consult. So they were sort of already well up-to-date with what they needed to know. So that was helpful.”

AN-SP30R-01 (SP Interview; VBAC clinic)

Quote 8.3:

“I think they’d come well prepared”

AN-SP29–03 (SP Interview)