2.4. Participants and Data Collection

We invited CRC patients and spousal caregivers who had participated in the program’s feasibility study to share their understanding and experiences of the project. Eligibility criteria were: adult married couples with one partner diagnosed with CRC (any stage); patient’s primary caregiver was his/her spouse; couples had daily access to a smartphone (some older cancer couples do not have smartphones, while some have smartphones but do not use them in their daily lives); and both patient and partner could communicate in Mandarin and were willing to participate in the program. The two facilitators were also interviewed. The interviews were conducted from January 2020 to October 2020.

Face-to-face semi-structured interviews with colorectal cancer patients and spousal caregivers were conducted by the first author (LJ) to explore participants’ real experiences and feelings in the process of practice. The semi-structured interview schedule developed under the NPT framework is shown in Table 2. All participation was voluntary. Participants were fully informed of the details on the study they were participating in and before participating, agreed verbally to be interviewed and recorded. Each couple was interviewed individually in a closed meeting room in the oncology department. Each interview lasted 30–60 min. LJ also conducted face-to-face semi-structured interviews with the two facilitators to explore their experiences throughout the intervention. In addition, we collected diaries from the facilitators.

Guiding questions for each interview for participants and facilitators.

Can you tell me your understanding of this project? Did you think it makes sense? Do you feel like you’ve changed since you joined the program?

Can you tell me how you were involved in the study? What motivated you to participate in this study? Why did you decide to become involved?

Did you have any problems participating in the study? Or was there any difficulty in using the online platform? We would like to know about your experience of using the online platform.

What did you think of the face-to-face and online platforms?

Could you tell me what your overall experience was?

Did you have any suggestions on how to improve our study? Or suggestions for an online platform?

What did you think were the conveniences and obstacles in the implementation process?

Where did you think the research needs to be improved?

At the end of each interview, LJ provided a brief overview of the main issues discussed, and participants had an opportunity to clarify their views. The recordings were transcribed verbatim at the end of each interview. All audio and text content will be available only to members of the research team.