Table 1 Interview guide

Overall experience

 1. Tell me about why you needed a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC)

 2. What was the insertion like?

 3. Tell me about how living with a PICC was for you

 4. How were the first 24 h after you had the PICC inserted?

 5. After you got used to living with the PICC, tell me about what a normal day looked like living with a PICC e.g. from waking up

 6. What were the daily problems you faced?

 7. Did you get much help for these problems from doctors or nurses?

Physical

 8. Did you have any pain after the PICC was put in?

 9. What about the dressing, was this comfortable?

Practical

 10. What did you do to make it easier to live with a PICC?

 11. Tell me about how you showered/dressed/slept/worked/exercised with a PICC?

 12. Did it take long to get used to living with a PICC?

 13. What would help you with this? E.g. more help from nurses

Information

 14. Tell me about the information you received about the insertion and living with the PICC e.g. showering and looking out for things that might go wrong

 15. Did the nurses give you written information, or did they tell you about the insertion and living with the device?

 16. Did you find the information useful? Easy to understand?

 17. Did you experience fatigue and did this impact on your ability to understand how to manage everything?

 18. Did you feel prepared for the PICC insertion/living with a PICC?

 19. Do you think most people would understand the information that nurses/doctors give people with a PICC?

 20. How do you think we should give information to people about the PICC? E.g. written, 1:1 teaching, group education, online information etc

Emotional

 21. How did having a PICC affect your life?

 22. How did you feel about having the PICC inside your body?

 23. Did you have any fears or uncertainties about living with a PICC at home?

 24. How did you feel about the risk of things going wrong at home?

 25. How did you feel about needing to watch for things going wrong when you were at home?

 26. Did you feel that you needed to take more responsibility/ownership for managing the PICC at home?

 27. How do you think nurses and doctors could help people to be comfortable in taking responsibility for managing the PICC at home?

Social

 28. What did other people say about the PICC? Did you try to hide the PICC?

 29. Did you go out much with the PICC?

 30. Did the PICC affect how you were around other people – family and friends?

General

 31. Looking back, what were your greatest needs during this time? Could you list your needs?

 32. What do you think are the needs of people living with a PICC?

 33. What do you think would help other people living with a PICC?