Exclusion criteria applied

Children below the age of 15 (as is culturally appropriate in Brazil) [8,29].

Adults lacking capacity to consent.

Patients diagnosed less than one month prior to their appointment. (To avoid possibly distressing newly diagnosed patients, who were still coming to terms with their diagnosis, by asking them to discuss events surrounding their diagnosis.)

Patients experiencing recent, serious life events (e.g. bereavement) or serious health problems at the time of interview (e.g. leprosy reaction). (This was done as a sensitive precaution to ensure participants were both physically and mentally able to provide accurate information.)