Table 2 Themes and subthemes generated from analysis of qualitative interviews

Perceptions of the CGA

Reflecting on research participation

I didn’t find it intrusive…wasn’t pushed into anything, I thought it was good. I think it went extremely well…there was no negativity. There was no, I, thought it was umm…there was no negative aspects.

[I] enjoyed the feeling of helping people…I hope it’s beneficial to others.

Accessibility

I know that usually outside of the study, I could be wrong, but it can be hard to access all those services for someone who is not in this study. I like how it was just like a free pass to check everything rather than if the study wasn’t on, I would have to get referral after referral which is inconvenient. So, like, if this could be done for people in general, I think it’d save time and that it would probably even keep a lot of people out of hospital and the public health system.

Clinician-consumer interaction

[Clinician name] doesn’t overwhelm us. Just talking to us at our level. Some of it goes over the top [gestures overhead] but you explain things, you don’t hit us with the scientific stuff. You probably understand what we don’t but put it in layman’s terms, it makes it very easy.

[Clinician] was very nice. You know, very good at her job…If we didn’t understand, she didn’t mind explaining it to us…I liked her, very nice and thorough. I would say you can do the study and you don’t have no one judging you, you don’t have anyone judging what you say.

Increased knowledge and insight

Mind-body connection

Get a good feeling, um, of how your body is working. You know, what’s wrong with it and what isn’t wrong with it. What you can do to change things that are not working properly. When you go there, you’re green, you’re not aware of anything.

Well, it’s going to help me too. Makes you aware of things you know, what the doctor’s been saying to [participant’s name] about general health. Some people say ignorance is bliss but not in some cases. Not when it’s your health.

Remind myself, if I don’t look after my physical self I won’t be looking after the mental. Or If I’m not looking after the mental, I’m not looking after the physical. It’s a balance. I’ve been noticing that every… most things in life have balance.

Provision of multi-disciplinary holistic care

Holistic care

I got a chance to speak to different types of doctors, which I thought was positive. Found out a little bit about my umm personal health… it was good getting a bit more umm in depth umm analysis into what’s happening in my body, so I thought that was good and yeah, interesting.

Because she came up with things that I didn’t know what the matter with me was, you know. And I knew that they were there, but I’ve never had a real good health check like that you know. Like I’ve had issues with doctors and things like that but not like that. Not like they have a look at everything, you know what I’m saying.

Formal and informal caregiver support

[Partner/Carer’s name] comes everywhere with me.

Partner/Carer’s: Cus sometimes [participant name]’s got a lot of things going on in her mind and she’s not always focussed. I go there to be an extra set of ears– I’m not there to be the gatekeeper– I just listen to the doctors. And if [participant name] asks me something I can say what she said and what she meant. Cus sometimes you do get a bit forgetful. I am forgetful.

Partner/Carer’s: Sometimes you get overwhelmed with doctors. You go into your shell a bit… I’ve always asked doctors questions.

Empowering action

She said she was happy with how I’m going. Yeah, I’m sure she would recommend that everything just keeps going the same. Yeah, she said I was going pretty well. Yeah. Pretty good praise. I’m not used to that.

[There] were things that I had to encourage myself to do. If I had the doctor there and she said OKAY we are going to go and do this together it would be like, yeah alright, you know. But otherwise, you’re at home, you got to sort of get yourself motivated, yeah.