Table 5 Key guiding principles
Intervention design objective | Key features designed to address objective | Rationale for design objective and key features |
|---|---|---|
1. To support men to manage the anxiety they experience due to being on active surveillance | The group sessions should provide support with anxiety by providing reassurance and normative information about others’ experiences, and encouragement in the development of coping skills (for example, social support mobilisation). The web component should complement the group sessions, enabling men to learn self-management strategies to take control of their anxiety. The web component should also signpost men to further reliable information available online | • All research conducted in the planning phase indicated emotional distress • The qualitative study with the target audience, and various previous interventions [25,26,27,28,29,30, 32] indicated group support may be beneficial • The qualitative study indicated a lack of reliable PCa and AS related information |
2. To encourage and support a healthy lifestyle | The web component should provide information about diet, physical activity and stress management to encourage a healthy lifestyle. Asking the men to set weekly goals could encourage them to utilise the information and implement changes to benefit their health. Relaxation techniques to be demonstrated in the group sessions, and the lifestyle information reinforced | • Target audience in qualitative study requested self-management tools/advice |
3. To maximise engagement in the programme | In order to encourage participation from men who might usually feel uncomfortable participating, and to minimise withdrawal from the group sessions, the group sessions need to be facilitated in a way that encourages active participation, mutual understanding, respect and help-seeking behaviour (for example, demonstrating an interest for further information). To encourage men who might otherwise not participate the group facilitator needs to sensitively encourage patients to identify their emotional state and feelings | • Important to maximise engagement in the programme to maximise change/improvements |