Table 5 Definitions of primary Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) mechanisms and sub-constructs (categories)

Coherence (sense-making)

Individual and collective work to make sense of implementing and integrating the intervention into routine practice

Differentiation

Ability to distinguish the intervention from current practice

Specification

Agreement concerning the purpose of the intervention

Internalization

Understanding the value, benefits, and importance of the intervention

Cognitive Participation (commitment and engagement)

Relational work, driven by commitment, to build and sustain the intervention in practice

Initiation

Working to drive the intervention forward

Enrolment

Organizing in order to contribute to the intervention work and to sustain engagement in the intervention

Legitimation

Agreement that the intervention is the right thing to do and that it should be part of routine practice

Relational interaction (inductive)

Establishing and maintaining care relationships required for commitment and sustained use of the intervention

Definition and evaluation of the situation (inductive)

Understanding, defining, and evaluating of the dyad’s situation and need for the intervention

Collective Action (work to enact)

Work to enact the intervention in everyday practice

Interactional workability

Working with each other, and the intervention, to seek to operationalize it in routine practice

Relational integration

Building accountability and maintaining confidence in each other in continued use of the intervention

Skill-set workability

Allocating work around a set of practices (e.g., training) to operationalize the intervention in routine practice

Contextual integration

Allocating resources, protocols, and policies, and procedures to operatize the intervention in routine practice

Prerequisites for intervention interaction (inductive)

Prerequisites for the dyad to manage and undertake the intervention in their everyday life