Methods
The COREQ guidelines for qualitative research have been used to present
our methodology.
Two interviews were conducted with “xxx” and her Mother across a two
month time period. Initially an interview was conducted electronically
by email and then a follow-up telephone interview was used to clarify
any ongoing questions and to enable a more nuanced emotional assessment.
The interviews were conducted by the primary author, a male junior
doctor working in otolaryngology who has received training in
qualitative research through the completion of a postgraduate diploma in
medical education. The interviewees were knowlageable about the goals of
the study and participated out of a willingness to help others with HHT
and informed consent was provided.
A phenomenological approach was taken to interviewing and data analysis
given the experiential nature of the questions to be answered. Sampling
was purposive with a sample size of one. Data were collected at the time
of the interviews via field notes. The telephone interview lasted
approximately 45 minutes. Data analysis was performed by the primary
author and a third party using thematic analysis; themes were compared
for consistency and congruency.