Theoretical framework The study will take a social constructionist approach to understand patients’ meaning-making in relation to non-emergency cardiac symptoms.46 This approach starts from the view that individuals and groups construct or create their realities, influenced

by multiple factors including sex, culture, www.selleckchem.com/products/ABT-888.html ethnicity and expected social behaviours. It also considers the consequences of these social constructions, for example, a belief that women do not get heart disease is likely to impact on help-seeking. Semistructured interviews using an interview guide will be used to ensure we uncover the meaning patients attribute to their circumstances, and cover topics considered important to the project. Sampling Maximum variation sampling will be used in order to

capture a wide range of perspectives within the phenomena being studied.47 The sampling dimensions are sex, age and ethnicity to ensure the recruitment of a heterogeneous sample and will include at least: Four male patients >50 years of age and include a mixture of white and ethnic minority participants. Four female patients >60 years of age and include a mixture of ethnic minority and white participants. Four male patients <50 years of age and will include a mixture of ethnic minority and white participants. Four female patients <60 years of age and include a mixture of ethnic minority and white participants. The sample will be drawn from referrals to the rapid access chest pain clinic (RACPC), which specialises in the assessment of non-emergency cardiac symptoms (stable angina), at Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton. The RACPC operates on Mondays and Thursdays and sees over 80 patients a month. The service covers a large and highly diverse catchment area, making

it the ideal centre to capture the maximum variation required. Recruitment Recruitment will last approximately 12 months, starting February 2014 and continue until data saturation, that is, no new themes important to the project are being elaborated on. It is envisaged a sample of 20–30 participants will be recruited. Although this sample might be considered Entinostat too small for quantitative research, in qualitative research it is considered that this sample is large enough to reach saturation of concepts. Indeed, Baker and Edwards expert discussion paper suggests saturation can be achieved with as low as 12 participants with the average being 30 participants.48 Similar studies in gender comparison work have shown concept density (saturation) at around 20 participants.19 43 Referrals, medical records and the Patient Administration System (PAS) system will be used to identify candidates who meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria, as detailed in table 1.