Theme	Sub-theme	Example of found problem	Representative quote
Physical health	Energy	Tiredness	'I’m very caring. I like to care. But sometimes it comes at the expense of myself and that expresses itself as tiredness.' (D)
		Sleep problems	'I don’t sleep instantly. First, I have to be sure he [the patient] is sleeping. Then I dare to take a nap. Usually that’s not until the morning.' (C)
	Complaints and pain	Neck pain	'Stress! Tenderness! It started to accumulate in my neck and shoulders. Therefore I received physiotherapy for, I think, three months. It crept in without me being aware…' (B)
		Headache	'At some point, I got a sort of headache and neck pain...' (G)
		Feeling sick more often	'In two months I’ve been sick four times, like a sort of flu, with a terrible headache, nausea and vomiting, which I usually never have. I never have headache. I just didn’t understand, until I realised: maybe it’s a manifestation of…' (A)
		Chest pain	'One time, I went to the GP because I had chest pain, within the heart region. I thought: It’d be better to have it checked before I collapse as well.' (M)
	Medical observations	Weight changes	'At the moment I weigh 63.8 kilograms. Last year I weighted 76. So that’s 13 kilograms less.' (C)
Mental health	Cognitive functioning	Amnesia	'During the holidays I bought the kids tickets for the theatre. Great show. Very expensive tickets. And I just forgot. With all the hustle … The children were very sad and upset. I felt really bad about it.' (M)
	Emotional state	Difficulty expressing emotions	'When he [the patient] is very sad, it makes me sad as well. Then I want to cry, but I block. That’s because I’m afraid to start crying and won’t be able to stop anymore … Since there’s so much which still needs to be processed.' (I)
	Stress	More stress	'Just restlessness. 24 hours of restlessness.' (E)
	Depressive feelings	More depressive feelings	'Cleaning the house. I don’t feel anything for it anymore. I don’t care anymore. I take one day at a time, or I don’t take any.' (C)
	Anxiety	Fear of recurrence	'If she [the patient] is in the bathroom a little long, I go upstairs to touch base. It just has become automatic. For all we know, she lies there as I experienced before.' (L)
	Self-esteem and manageability	Shame	'I don’t like the way I behave this way [considering the patient’s body as scary]. I don’t blame him, but I blame myself…' (J)
Existential dimension and future	Spiritual dimension and meaning	Changed spirituality	'Occasionally a little prayer and a Hail Mary really supported me.' (H)
	Acceptance	Difficulty accepting the situation	'Accept it the way it is. It made the situation more bearable and easier, I think. Well, it wasn’t easy, but because of that we managed to get through this.' (M)
	Future prospects	Uncertainties in the future	'When comes the quality time we hope to get some day?' (J)
Quality of life		Impaired freedom	'We lived very relaxed, everything was possible. Which is delightful if everything goes well, but has turned over completely now. However, it’s not necessarily a bad one. Really.' (A)
Relationship and social participation	Relationship	Impaired intimacy	'Well, you don’t actually have any physical contact, not to mention sex.' (J)
	Social participation	Losing friends	'Now you realise who really is close to you. It takes a while to accept, but you don’t actually realise it until now.' (D)
Daily life	Hobbies and leisure	Recreational limitations	'Taking a nice walk. In Berlin we walked about fifteen kilometres a day. Lovely, isn’t it? You’ll see everything. Well, that’s never going to happen anymore.' (A)
	Family and home	More responsibilities at home	'Look, my husband has become sick and I haven’t, but I’m involved just as much.' (I)
	Work and financial matters	Financial uncertainties	'Financially, we don’t dare to spend a lot of money yet. So sports club I don’t dare yet and swimming neither actually. Soon I can swim in the pond over here, that’s free.' (M) [Owing to M’s patient, who is currently depending on benefit]