MATERIALS AND METHODS

Patients with HS were recruited from the outpatient clinic at the Department of Dermatology, Roskilde Hospital. Patients were invited face-to-face, by letter or by telephone to participate in interviews. The interviews were performed with the same interviewer in all cases (SE). All the interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim.

By accepting the invitation to participate in the interviews the patients provided informed consent. In Denmark qualitative surveys do not legally require ethics committee approval. A total of 12 patients participated in the interviews (9 females, 3 males); mean age 36 (age range 27–48) years. Table I shows the duration of HS, Hurley score and treatment of the participants during the past 2 years. The interviews took place over a period of nearly 2 years, from June 2008 to March 2010. Initially seven patients participated in a single interview (4 females, 3 males). Four of the participants agreed to join the focus group interviews along with additional