Following the basic principles of IPA (Smith et al., 2009), we conducted
data analysis on one interview at a time. The first author
read and reread each transcript several times and made exploratory
comments in the form of notes that highlighted key words representing
the participants’ thoughts or some preliminary conceptual
interpretation. The exploratory comments were analyzed with reference
to the original data to identify emergent themes. This process
also involved iterative reference to the original data. The first author
then identified connections between the emergent themes by ascribing
superordinate themes, which were identified first within families
and then between families. The coauthors reviewed the exploratory
comments, the themes and the superordinate themes, and the representative
statements, and then provided comments and reflections
on the process of analysis to ensure the first author’s interpretation
closely reflected the participants’ lived experiences. The three authors
resolved any differences and reached agreement on the themes and
superordinate themes.