Table a1 Counselee (CE) and counsellor (CR) individual coding categories and combinations of these used in the analyses

Social talk

Personal remarks, social conversation, laughs, jokes, approval, compliments

Agreement

Signs of acknowledgement, agreement or understanding

Concern^a

Immediate emotional or psychosocial worries, crying

Verbal attention^a,^b

Legitimise, empathy, partnership, support

Reassurance^a

Give reassurance, ask for reassurance

Disagreement

Disapproval, criticism, disagree

Orientation

Directive remarks regarding the course of the visit, division of roles between counsellors

Clarification

Bid for repetition, ask for understanding

Opinion

Ask for opinion, give opinion

Paraphrase

Checks for understanding, confirm shared understanding or knowledge

Medical questions^c

Questions that ask for information on medical condition or screening or prophylactic surgery

Nonmedical questions

Questions that ask for information on pedigree, communication within family, lifestyle, agenda, psychosocial issues,^d or current feelings^d

Medical information^e

Statements or facts relating to medical condition or screening or prophylactic surgery

Nonmedical information

Statements or facts relating to pedigree, communication within family, lifestyle, agenda, psychosocial issues,^f,^g or current feelings^f

Medical education^b,^e

Statements relating to risk of cancer or indication for DNA testing, or statements that suggest action to be taken by the other relating to screening or prophylactic surgery

Psychosocial education^b

Statements which suggest resolution or action to be taken by the other relating to family communication, lifestyle, or psychosocial issues,^g or statements aimed at education about psychosocial issues^g or agenda

Other

Other utterances, unintelligible utterances