Patient Priorities in the Management of Early Oesophageal Cancer: A Discrete Choice Study

Interviews will be facilitated by the research team. The sessions will be designed to follow the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) (12). The Questionnaire on Distress in Cancer Patients and The Cancer Worry Scale (both validated patient surveys) were also used to help design the script for the interview. The full interview script can be found in a separate document entitled "Patient priorities in Oesophageal Cancer".

Participants will be asked to imagine the following scenario; "You have undergone endoscopic resection for an early oesophageal cancer. All your cancer has been removed, but the histology from your endoscopic resection shows you are at an increased risk of recurrence. This risk could be reduced by undergoing a radical oesophagectomy. The following options are presented to you;"

• Questionnaire will involve choosing between 2 treatments options; Active surveillance or radical surgery.

• 5 attributes will be assigned to each treatment option. Examples of possible attributes; 5-year survival (this pertains to risk of nodal/distant metastases) Risk of mortality from surgery Short-term HRQoL Long-term HRQoL Frequency of invasive tests
• Each attribute will have 3 levels
• It would not be possible to expose patients to all choice sets (>200). Software will be used to design 20 choice sets that will make up the questionnaire.