Data collection

We obtained written informed consent before each interview. Before each session, participants completed an anonymised demographic survey. In-person interviews, lasting 45 to 60 min, were conducted in private rooms convenient to the participants. In April 2020, we converted in-person to a virtual platform using video-conferencing Zoom® software, with audio recording only for transcripts, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on existing studies [36–39], we considered data gathered by video to be equivalent to that from in-person interviews. Only the participants and interviewers were present in both in-person and video-conferencing interviews. Confidentiality was maintained by de-identifying the transcripts. The recordings, transcripts, coding, field notes and coders’ reflexive notes, taken during the interviews, were organized in secure electronic archives, to establish a clear audit trail [40].

Each participant was remunerated with Singapore $40 dollars for their time. All sessions were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The interviews continued until data saturation was reached when no new themes emerged for either FP group [41].