Table 2 Feasibility outcomes and data sources

i) Feasibility of recruiting massage practitioners for practice-based research

• Number of expressions of interest received

• Number of practitioners who enrolled and completed the training

• Time to recruit practitioners

• Number of practitioners who completed the study

• Research logs

ii) Feasibility of massage practitioners recruiting their clients for practice-based clinical research

• Number of clients enrolled

• Number of clients who completed the study

• Time to recruit clients

• Research logs

iii) Practitioners’ compliance with study protocols

• Number of practitioners who submitted all client report forms

• Client report forms submitted to research assistant

iv) Practitioners’ knowledge of and confidence in research pre-study

• Previous involvement in research (qualitative responses)

• Confidence in managing the research in their clinics (qualitative responses and a sliding scale 0-100, 0 = no confidence; 100 = complete confidence)

• Confidence that the study would be able to measure effectiveness of massage treatment (qualitative responses)

• Online pre-study survey

v) Practitioners’ post-study reflections on participating in the study

• Focus group discussions used a semi-structured interview guide to explore practitioners’ experiences of participation

• Focus group discussions post-study

Feasibility outcomes - clients

vi) Client compliance with using the app

• Ease of teaching clients to use the app

• Number of clients who submitted all walk data

• Research logs

vii) Client subjective perceptions of pain and mobility (measured weekly by self-report in pain and mobility diaries)

• Pain - measured by a 0–10 visual analogue scale [27] (0 = no pain at all; 10 = the worst pain you can imagine)

• Mobility - self-reported qualitative data

• Client pain and mobility diaries

viii) Client subjective perceptions of pain and mobility (as recorded by practitioners in Client Report Forms)

• Pain- measured by a 0–10 visual analogue scale [27] (0 = no pain at all; 10 = the worst pain you can imagine)

• Mobility - self-reported qualitative data

• Client Report Forms completed by practitioners at the beginning of each client visit as part of medical history

Feasibility outcomes – phone app measures

Feasibility of phone app measures to detect actual changes in average and maximum walking speed

• Changes in average walking speed over 5-weeks as measured by the app

• Changes in maximum walking speed over 5-weeks as measured by the app

• Data from the app recording average and maximum walking speeds for each walk taken by a client