Table 2 Exemplar quotes for theme 2

Personal

Reason to change

Inconvenience

People would need to be driven to attend those kind of things and if you felt you needed support you’d be more inclined to do it. FG1 (male, less affluent)

Once a week? Some of us are busy men. FG3 (male, less affluent)

You see for the likes of us and no transport at night, if things were held in the middle of the day it would be easier for them to get to. .. And then there’s some older people doesn’t like to go out at night. FG9 (female, more affluent)

Measurements

Lack of interest

I need to be going face to face or getting on a scale with somebody and somebody saying to me, you know, you haven’t lost weight or you have lost weight to spur me on. FG5 (female, less affluent)

And then the other thing that would be interesting would be for somebody to show evidence that by you changing your diet that it actually has helped your health. If you’re doing that for health and you’re really struggling because you really don’t like but if you feel that when you change and you’re feeling better and the results are coming, that your blood pressure’s coming down or your cholesterol and so on, because everybody needs just a little bit of reassurance that you’re succeeding. FG8 (female, less affluent)

I think with discussion groups, they’re okay but they fade out very quickly, especially in bad weather and all the rest of it. Who is going to get up if there’s something on the TV and they’re sitting with a beer or whatever it is, am I going to go into town to this discussion group about Mediterranean food? I think not. FG1 (male, less affluent)

If you maybe sort of feel it’s an awful night, I couldn’t be bothered going, that sort of thing, you can talk yourself out of the things quite often. FG4 (female)

And part of the reason for that is distraction, “oh God, it’s a wet night.” “There’s a big match on the box” whatever. So the motivation, keeping the motivation, really your point puts that slightly differently, having the motivation to get started is one thing, sustaining that motivation and seeing the benefit is another thing. FG7 (male)

Interpersonal

Support

Poor relationships

And the fact that you’ve contacted somebody else who’s going through the same thing as you is good, because if you’ve got the urge to go back or retract then they’re encouraging you on, they’re saying, “stick with it.” FG9 (female, more affluent)

I think I would go for a mixture because a group is okay but if you’re there every week sometimes personality clashes come into play, no matter what group you’re in, should it be a sporting group, any kind of group. FG10 (male, more affluent)

Yeah, because there’ll always be things comes up. It happens where you won’t be able to make it 1 week, and then sometimes if you can’t make it 1 week and it happens the next week you can slowly drift away, so if you have a back-up there where you can phone and say “look, I’m not going to be able to get for a few weeks” and just keep in the loop with what’s going on or what’s happening. FG5 (female, less affluent)

It depends on the group too. If you get people who are a bit intrusive or going out and sharing things, but generally speaking I think groups meetings are useful. FG4 (female)

Accountability

Yeah definitely. You’re getting help with managing it by discussing it with other people and usually in a group you’d be more inclined to think “I’ll give it a go because I don’t want to let myself down in front of everybody.” FG5 (female, less affluent)

Because you’ve made the arrangement to be there you do go. It’s written in stone. FG8 (female, less affluent)

Competitiveness

It (telephone support) wouldn’t be for me because I’m the type of person who if I decide to do it I’m going to do it, and the only thing that would keep me going would be the group and seeing how well they’re doing, and maybe a wee bit of jealously. FG10 (male, more affluent)

I think if you’re comparing weight and things like that it would motivate you. Say, you lost a pound 1 week and I didn’t, you know that sort of thing. FG4 (female)

Role models/ Peer pressure

Say someone had a good result, that result would help motivate the others to maybe stick to the diet. FG3 (male, less affluent)

In a group situation there tends to be maybe a slight pressure on you to be seen to conform to what is good, simply because if you go each week then you want to be seen to be successful, and it does work. FG10 (male, more affluent)