Themes relating to the audience’s expectations (prior to viewing the artwork) and perceptions (after viewing the artwork). ‘Other’ refers to themes with counts of less than 5 (and typically only one)
| Expectations before viewing | Perceptions after viewing | ||
| Theme | Count (n) | Theme | Count (n) |
| Increased understanding | 58 | Emotion, connectedness, empathy | 103 |
| Patient experience, empathy, connection | 47 | Excitement, surprise, awe | 56 |
| Surprise and discovery | 44 | Insight and interest | 42 |
| Insight into cardiovascular disease, medicine | 36 | Beauty, preciousness, poetry | 23 |
| Inspiration and enjoyment | 32 | Medical, educational | 20 |
| Insight into arts-and-science process | 31 | Anxiety, discomfort, death | 18 |
| Visual, audio, visual and audio | 26 | Powerful, deep | 17 |
| To be moved | 15 | Intricate, complex, changeable | 17 |
| Relaxation, peacefulness | 10 | Music, sound, words | 13 |
| Beauty | 7 | Mindful, considerate | 8 |
| Anxiety, discomfort, sombreness | 7 | Calm, calming, warmth | 6 |
| Other | 13 | Other | 23 |
| Total | 326 | Total | 346 |