Examples of coding and thematic analysis process
| Quote | Initial codes (initial framework theme) | Recoded to | COM-B category | Theme |
| “It bothers me… not the actual… It bothers me that I can hear it in my ears more than anything”.—Male, aged 70–79 years | Annoying symptoms (what it feels like for me) | Psychological impact of AF | Motivation | Being out of rhythm |
| "At the minute, touch wood… it feels like it wants to start, like at work today it kind of skipped a beat and I thought oh no please don’t start!”—Female, aged 60–69 years | Touching wood (motivation); dreading relapse (capability—psychological) | Psychological impact of AF | Motivation | Being out of rhythm |
| "I know if I lost half a stone I would feel that little bit quicker, a bit lighter, but I wouldn’t want to lose any more than that because it would like take that bit of strength away”.—Male, aged 50–59 years | Being big and strong (motivation—reflective) | Desire to lose weight—confounding factors | Motivation | Doing the right thing |
| "But yeah that’s what I’d like, to go through foods with me, to say well no you can’t really have that—I’m only thinking I’ll have that because it’s got no sugar in it—do you know what I mean? But I don’t think about maybe the fat content. I think about the sugar content, I think oh great I can have that—do you know what I mean? So… It’s someone to sit and educate me, more than anything”.—Female, aged 60–69 years | Nutritional knowledge (capability— psychological); desired help (opportunity—physical); wanting to talk about weight (motivation—automatic); changing diet (behaviour change) | Weight management knowledge; desired help | Capability, Opportunity, Motivation; Behaviour Change | Doing the right thing |
| "I can’t remember exactly what she said but I think it was around the weight issue. But none of them, none of them have said that the weight was an issue for any of the procedures that were going to be done, so I didn’t make much of it other than to say you know that. But it’s usually that if you lose a bit of weight then. I don’t know I can’t remember what they said but basically lose some weight—it wasn’t an order, it was just advice”.—Male, aged 50–59 years | Risks not explained (motivation—reflective); choosing what to hear (motivation—automatic) | Patient education | Motivation | Broaching the subject |
| "Years ago when I lived in [city] um, they could, sounds silly I know but they could put the gym on prescription for so many months, which is what one doctor done for me and I used to go to the gym, um, oh two, three times a week then”.—Female, aged 60–69 years | Having weight loss prescription (motivation—reflective); doing exercise (capability—physical) | Being referred | Motivation, opportunity | Broaching the subject |