Table 2

Overview of the overarching theme, categories, subcategories and codes

Theme	Emotional and social challenges and the struggle to cope in life after providing CPR
Category	Concern			Uncertainty			Coping strategies
Subcategory	Bodily and emotional influence	Self-criticism or proudness	Changed family and social behaviour	In search of information about patient outcome	Experiencing unavailable information about patient outcome	Receiving information about patient outcome	Processing the OHCA incident	Wishing follow-up by healthcare professionals
Codes	Having nightmares and poor sleeping Experiencing unwanted weight loss Feeling unfocused and distracted Recurring the cardiac arrest incident in the mind Being anxious Feeling alone and deserted	Self-blaming for having not provided sufficient CPR Worrying about having inflicted injury Feeling proud and happy for having provided CPR	Wanting to be left alone Avoiding unwanted attention Frightening unexpected harm will happen to family members	Struggling to acquire patient information Wanting to see and talk to the patient	Being kept in ignorance because of the patient confidentiality legislation Finding it stressful not knowing patient outcome	Experiencing great relief when positive outcome Experiencing sadness when cardiac arrest victim died or survived in an unfortunate state	Talking to everyone who wanted to listen Communicate with health-educated individuals in their social network Consulting healthcare services Performing everyday activities	Needing a professional, but optional approach from healthcare professionals to talk about the OHCA incident Missing reassurance of OK CPR performance Wanting acknowledgement of the CPR attempt by health professionals Wanting facts about the OHCA incident

CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation; OHCA, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.