Table 1 Basic structure of the group focus discussions

1. Could you introduce yourself and tell us how long ago rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was diagnosed?

2. If you think of all aspects of your life RA had influence on, what is the first thing that pops up in your mind?

Introduction of RAID score by LHvT to the participants:

Recently, a group of people in Europe developed a questionnaire that measures the impact of RA on the patient's life on various health topics. Before a questionnaire can be used in daily practice or research, it must first be examined whether the questionnaire works properly and is reliable. That is why we are here today. The purpose of this meeting is to investigate whether you think that this questionnaire is complete, or if you miss domains/subjects in this questionnaire. In response to a question I will ask you, you can discuss and debate your answer with each other. In the meantime I will keep an eye on the equal input of everyone. The entire meeting is recorded on tape that we will analyze later. After about 45 minutes we will have a break of 15 minutes. The persons who developed the list found that the questionnaire had to remain short. Therefore there are seven topics included in this questionnaire, as you can see on the paper version we just provided you with. The topics include pain, problems with daily functioning, fatigue, sleep, physical well-being, emotional well-being and handling your disease.

3. What do you think of these topics?

4. Are these seven topics the most relevant to assess the impact of RA on your life?

Second introduction of LHvT after the break:

In the second part of this meeting, we would like to evaluate the questions and how they are formulated to see if everything is understandable and clear to you.

5. Evaluation of all questions separately by asking if all questions were clearly defined and understandable.

6. Today, I wanted to gain insight into all the domains in which RA had impact on in your life. Have I forgotten to ask you something that relates to this subject? Is there something you would like to say if you did not have the opportunity during the discussions? Would you like to add something to the previous discussions?