Table 3 Participant reflections about ownership of the co-designed intervention

“I presume all members of the collaborative group technically own it (the intervention), because we all contributed to producing it.” (BG, PPI member)

“I can't name us all as individuals, but I feel the 'ownership' is no one person; it is definitely a 'Whole Group Ownership'. We were definitely led by MT, guided by MT but the intervention outcomes are a wholly collaborative product, an example of 'Gestalt', i.e. the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.” (LS, PPI member)

“I’m confident that I don’t own it. MT owns it because she conceived the project and drove it through to fruition.” (LB, patient participant)

“I would say that you (MT) own the intervention, since it was your original idea and we simply helped you develop it into its final form…I suppose there’s a case for saying the funder is the owner, having ‘bought’ it, so to speak, and you are the custodian.” (DT, PPI member)

“I feel everyone involved owns the intervention. However, I do feel that the researcher(s) were really key to the project as they facilitated the movement and progress and did the bulk of putting work together and amending as required. They also were fundamental in ensuring ideas were pulled together throughout as due to the collaborative design there were lots of different ideas over a broad range of areas, so I feel they hold a lot of the ownership.” (LU, clinician)

“I think everyone who has been involved in the process owns the intervention. This will benefit not only the patients but also the people who look after them because at the end of the day we want the best for their patients and the patients want the best for themselves.” (JR, clinician)

“The patient owns the intervention. I suppose the correct answer would be the patients, because it's…Well…I'm just thinking now. They should be Co-owned. I suppose there is the difference between ownership and responsibility. To keep it moving forward, it is important to have a person that looks after it if you like and maintains it. But it's owned by the patients and staff who developed it.” (CO, clinician)

Researcher

 “At the start, I always had to remind co-design participants this was not just my project but it was also theirs and that their views and decisions mattered and will be considered…Co-design members seemed to be more relaxed when giving their views during the later stages; I felt it was no longer my project but theirs. I think this was the reason why towards the end, it was much easier to obtain their views and decisions…At the start, there was a constant use of ‘us and them’ among co-design participants, this was changed to ‘we’ at the completion of this phase.” (MT, doctoral researcher)