Table 1

Contribution	Paper	Study aims	Context/setting	Participant group	Participants (n)	Data collection points (n) and interviews (total n)	Data analysis and presentation
1. Exploring views and experiences of variety of participants over time.	Murray et al52	To compare the illness trajectories, needs and service use of patients with cancer and those with advanced non-malignant disease	Community	Patients with newly diagnosed inoperable lung cancer, patients with advanced cardiac failure, informal carers and their HCPs	40 patients, numbers not reported for carers and HCPs	93 with patients (53 with carers and 73 with HCPs) Interviews conducted at 3 monthly intervals for up to a year Additional interviews with carers after bereavement	Narrative analysis, ‘themes spanning time’ approach
	Checkland et al47	1. To examine how CCGs approached the task and process of setting themselves up. 2. To examine how CCGs are structured and what roles GPs adopt.	Primary care	Managers, HCPs and lay members	91 participants in phase I, 42 participants in phase II	Multimethod approach including 96 interviews in phase I (18-month period) and 42 interviews in phase II (2-year period)	Thematic analysis within wider realist approach framework, themes spanning time approach
2. Following participants through important transitions.	Lawton et al29	To explore patients’ perceptions and experiences over time of the devolvement of diabetes care from secondary to primary care healthcare setting	Secondary and primary care	Patients with diabetes	20 patients	80 interviews with patients at four time points over 4 years	Thematic analysis, themes spanning time approach
2. Following participants through important transitions.	Gordon et al20	To explore trainee doctors’ experiences of the transition to trained doctor	Various medical settings	Trainee doctors expected to complete training within the next 6 months	20 participants	38 interviews at two time points (before completing training) and within 12 months of completing training, also audio diaries	Framework analysis, themes spanning time approach
3. Studying implementation of new practices, processes or interventions.	Linmans et al30	To explore the processes involved in the provision of a lifestyle intervention to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus by HCPs in primary care	Primary care	Patients with diabetes taking part in a lifestyle intervention in primary care, HCPs delivering the intervention	Not reported	Interviews with patients after each consultation with HCPs, interviews with HCPs before and after delivering the intervention	Framework analysis with phenomenological approach, themes spanning time approach
	Laing et al49	To explore the contextual factors that influenced the nature and extent of implementation and sustained use of the PINCER {intervention in diverse settings over time	Primary care	Staff members from general practices, and policy makers	48 participants	48 interviews with staff depending on the short-term, medium-term and long-term involvement in the intervention; further interviews planned	Thematic analysis, themes spanning time approach
4. Exploring the importance of historical change and/or macro context on individuals’ lives.	Murphy et al50	To examine how clinicians and managers dealt with the rapid implementation of remote consulting	Primary care	GPs, practice managers and nurses	41 participants	84 interviews conducted across four time points over 4 months	Framework analysis, combined themes spanning time and ‘themes tied to time points’ approaches
	Guzman et al51(protocol)	To explore the experiences of community-dwelling older adults during COVID-19	Community	Adults over 65 years old living in community settings	Anticipated sample of 30 participants	Data to be collected at two time points 3–10 weeks apart	Thematic analysis, plans for themes tied to time points approach
5. Developing a deeper understanding of phenomena under study.	Smith18	To explore women’s transition into motherhood	Community	Women within the first trimester of their pregnancy	four participants	16 interviews at 3, 6, 9 months of pregnancy, and 5 months after the birth of the child	IPA, themes tied to time points approach
	Nissim et al22	To contribute to the understanding of the desire for hastened death in the context of advanced cancer	Community	Patients with advanced lung or gastrointestinal cancer	27 patients	54 interviews every 2–4 months	Grounded theory approach, themes spanning time approach

CCG, clinical commissioning group; GP, general practitioner; HCP, healthcare professional.