Local management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway: a longitudinal interview study of municipality chief medical officers

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of participating municipal Chief medical Officers (MCMOs).

Participant characteristics (total n = 9)	Sex	Age (years)	Experience	MCMO position (%)	Part time employment
Interview 1 (n = 9)	5 female, 4 male	38–70 (median 46)	6–20 years (n = 8) ≥ 21 years (n = 1)	20–100	3 general practitioners (GP)^a 1 other part time position
Interview 2 (n = 5)	2 female, 3 male	38–70 (median 48)	6–20 years (n = 4) ≥21 years (n = 1)	20–100	2 general practitioners (GP)^a 1 other part time position

^a Some of the MCMOs did not have a full-time position as MCMO and worked part-time as GPs or in other part-time position.

Table 2. Braun and Clarke’s six stages of thematic analysis with study example.

Phase		Description of analysis step	Example of analysis
1	Familiarizing with the data	Reading and re-reading all transcripts searching for meanings and patterns.	Initial reflections: The MCMOs talked about existing pandemic plans and preparedness. There were differences in how they viewed the preparedness and the existing plans. There were also differences in the organization of the municipality regarding infection control measures, resources, and personnel.
2	Generating initial codes	Organizing the data into meaningful code groups	Preliminary code groups: Barriers to pandemic response Facilitators to pandemic response Sub-groups within each code group: Pandemic plans Equipment Resources and organization of personnel COVID-19 testing Vaccination Future management
3	Searching for themes	Re-focusing the analysis to the broader aspect of themes. Sorting the initial codes into potential and overarching themes.	Theme: Preparedness and pandemic plans Sub-themes: Preparedness/ plans Equipment/testing Future management of the COVID-19 pandemic
4	Reviewing themes	Refinement of candidate themes at the level of the coded data extracts and in relation to the whole data set.	Theme: Pandemic preparedness- from dormant to permanent measure?
5	Defining and naming themes	Identifying the essence of what each team is about (as well as the themes overall) and determine what aspect of the data each team captures as well as naming the themes.	The essence of the theme: A change in the view of preparedness from dormant and de-prioritized to a wish for permanently increased measures.
6	Producing the report	Final analysis and write-up of the report. The analytic narrative needs to go beyond the description of the data and make an argument in relation to the research question.