of their illness between the three groups,12,13 and allowed the salient features of their individual experiences to be identified and further explored. Qualitative methods are suited to eliciting patients’ detailed understanding and perceptions of illness and have been employed in many other similar studies.8,10 Leventhal et al.’s common sense model of self regulation of health and illness,11 provided the framework for the interview schedule and analysis of data. A framework approach to qualitative data analysis is particularly useful when the intention is to compare data across different groups or against a specific theoretical construct.14 This paper presents the qualitative component of a larger mixed methods, cross-sectional study.