Participant characteristics (n=1211)
| Response option | n (%) |
| Recruitment | |
| Healthcare (via General Practitioner practice) | 917 (76%) |
| Social care (via Local Authority) | 294 (24%) |
| Age (years) | |
| 18–49 | 162 (13%) |
| 50–64 | 277 (23%) |
| 65–74 | 331 (27%) |
| 75–84 | 259 (21%) |
| 85+ | 128 (11%) |
| (missing) | 54 (5%) |
| Gender | |
| Female | 656 (54%) |
| Male | 528 (44%) |
| (missing) | 27 (2%) |
| Condition reported* | |
| Depression/anxiety | 508 (42%) |
| Chronic back pain | 450 (37%) |
| Diabetes | 313 (26%) |
| Osteoarthritis | 308 (25%) |
| Colon problems (eg, irritable bowel syndrome) | 290 (24%) |
| Heart disease | 284 (24%) |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 188 (16%) |
| Stroke | 185 (15%) |
| Cancer within the last 5 years | 166 (14%) |
| Bipolar/psychosis/schizophrenia | 88 (7%) |
| Multiple sclerosis | 75 (6%) |
| (missing) | 27 (2%) |
| Employment | |
| Retired from work | 554 (46%) |
| Permanently sick or disabled | 218 (18%) |
| Employed/full-time education | 211 (17%) |
| Doing something else (eg, volunteering) | 85 (7%) |
| Unemployed | 31 (3%) |
| (missing) | 112 (9%) |
| Marital status | |
| Married/civil partnership | 648 (54%) |
| Widowed | 224 (19%) |
| Divorced/separated | 168 (14%) |
| Single/never married | 144 (12%) |
| Ethnicity | |
| White British | 1097 (91%) |
| Other White (eg, Irish, European) | 38 (3%) |
| Black/Black British (eg, African, Caribbean) | 18 (2%) |
| Asian/Asian British (eg, Indian, Pakistani) | 17 (1%) |
| Mixed | 8 (0.6%) |
| (missing) | 33 (3%) |
| Help needed completing questionnaire | |
| No help | 896 (74%) |
| Had help, but answers are my own | 227 (19%) |
| Someone answered for me (proxy) | 74 (6%) |
| (missing) | 14 (1%) |
*Figures add up to more than 100% because most participants reported multiple conditions.