Journal of Qualitative Research in Health Sciences
Volume:6 Issue: 3, 2017

Cancer is one of the chronic diseases in children. Parents of children with cancer, as members of the healthcare team with the special role, need enough information about cancer. The aim of this study was exploring and identifying the information needs of parents of children with cancer.
This was a qualitative research using content analysis method with a phenomenological approach. 14 parents were selected from Children's Medical Center Hospital of Tehran, Iran, and interviewed using semi-depth method for three months. The obtained data were constantly analyzed through constant comparison analysis method.
The obtained data were categorized into 4 themes and 14 subthemes. Medical information about child with cancer, physical healthcare, psycho-educational care, and lifestyle information were the main concerns of parents.
Medical information, psycho-educational, and physical healthcare information have been identified as the most important concerns of parents in relation to the child with cancer. Thus, it seems essential to develop suitable parents’ education plans.

The present research was conducted to study how existential loneliness parameter presents in obsessive-compulsive condition. To this aim, attitudes and reactions of women with obsessive-compulsive tendencies were investigated in terms of the existential loneliness to obtain a better comprehension of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
The research was conducted among Kermani women, Iran, choosing grounded theory qualitative method. Participants were chosen based on Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS). Sampling was started with snowball purposeful method and followed by theoretical sampling. Theoretical saturation took place with 13 persons. Existential loneliness was probed by means of the semi-structured interviews. The interviewees’ statements were coded and analyzed according to the grounded theory and by means of Strauss and Corbin method.
Acceptance/non-acceptance was the central category and dependence versus independence, defensive and non-accepting coping, and adoptive and accepting coping were the resulted axial categories of this research, each had their subsets. Generally, the tendency toward dependence was more than independence. Participants used defensive and non-accepting mechanisms in confronting to the existential loneliness more than adoptive and accepting coping. Non-acceptance was the main reaction of women with obsessive-compulsive tendencies regarding the existential loneliness.
It seems that non-acceptance of existential loneliness can justify excessive anxieties, dysfunctional copings, and relational problems of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Empowerment-based sexual health education is the best way to ensure the learning, implement safe and healthy sexual behavior, and confine the unhealthy sexual behavior. This study aimed to explore strategies for empowerment-based sexual health education.
Conventional content analysis approach was recruited in this qualitative study. Participants were selected purposefully. Data were collected through 38 in-depth interviews with engaged and married men and women and 9 key informants. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed. The data were analyzed using content analysis method and using qualitative data analysis MAXQDA software.
Code extraction revealed strategies for empowerment-based sexual health education in two main themes including use all capacities to educate (with two subthemes of formal and non-formal education), and structure of optimal education (with four subthemes of education for all, educational objectives, education on pillars, and commensurate with the characteristics of the target group).
The ultimate goal of educational development and sexual health promotion in the country is individuals and community empowerment. To achieve this goal, using all capacities to take advantage and rearrangement of sexual health education structure is essential. The results of this project would allow us to design sexual health education programs with the aim empowerment of individuals, especially youth.

Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is a vital device for the treatment and control of heart dysrhythmia. This study aimed to determine the lived experience of spouses of people with implantable cardioverter defibrillator.
This qualitative study with phenomenological hermeneutic approach was performed using van Manen’s method. Participants consisted of 13 spouses of people with implantable cardioverter defibrillator referred to Imam Khomeini hospital, Tehran, Iran, in 2015. All the participants were chosen purposefully. Data were collected with in-depth semi-structured interviews. The duration of interviews was between 30 to 45 minutes. The data were analyzed using van Manen’s six-step method.
The three main themes of this research were experiencing the first shock (with subthemes of fear, shock expectation, and unpleasant experience), sense of security (with subthemes of receiving hidden help, gain of control, and dependence to the device), and experience of life limitation with implantable cardioverter defibrillator (with subthemes of interference with the role, the costs, limited mobility, driving, and commuting).
People with implantable cardioverter defibrillator had generally the sense of safety and security, despite some unpleasant experiences like electrical shock and some limitations. Healthcare provider especially nurses can provide necessary educations about the device instruction and promote self-care and quality of life in order to help people with implantable cardioverter defibrillator and their family.

One of the important areas of elderly mental health is experiencing their emotional well-being. Small number of quantitative researches has been conducted on the concept of subjective well-being. However, qualitative researches have not been conducted in this area in order to understand the different aspects of emotional well-being. Therefore, the main objective of this research was to study the experiences of the elderly people living in the nursing homes in order to understand the nature of emotional well-being better.
This study was conducted with a qualitative approach, using phenomenological methodology. Researchers used deep and sequential interviews as a research tool to describe the life experience. Overall, in this study, 20 elderly who lived in the nursing homes of Kerman, Iran, were studied by using targeted sampling during a 10-month period. The collected data were analyzed using Schutz’s method and classified in form of primary sample phrases, subthemes, and main themes.
The findings of this study revealed two main themes of emotional energy (with themes of feeling social vitality, feeling loving-kindness), and emotional depression (with themes of frustration and traumatic life experiences) and twelve subthemes.
The senior participators in the study have experienced both emotional energy and depression during the time in nursing homes. It seems that three major factors, namely attention to their emotional and spiritual needs in nursing homes, social interactions with people inside and outside of nursing homes, and their physical condition played an important role in creating the experience of emotional well-being of the elderly.

With the expansion of digital technology and learning models such as massive open online courses (MOOCs) and offline programming (OLP), health education system has revolutionized. Due to the unique characteristics of cyberspace, optimal use of this technology should be considered not only in functional levels, but also in policy and management. The aim of this study was to identify key factors affecting the direction and management of higher health education on cyberspace from experts and scholars perspective in Iran.
In order to conduct this qualitative study, we adhered to a thematic content analysis methodology and Braun-Clarke approaches. This study was conducted through purposeful sampling and semi-structured interviews in Iran.
Replacing the smart stewardship as the main theme, and changes in information technology (IT) infrastructure, changes in knowledge management, and networked collaboration as the sub-themes were identified. According to experts’ opinions, higher health education system for use of intelligent technologies should focus on critical components in its strategic planning and consider new solutions.
Our findings will help policymakers and educational managers to improve steer and strategic planning in medical education on cyberspace through considering involved key components, which leads to added value in the health system.

The aims of this study were describing mothers’ experiences from breastfeeding education and identifying the problems related to breastfeeding in order to submit a suggestion to policymakers who work in field of mother and child health promotion.
This descriptive qualitative study was conducted in Tehran, Iran, from May 2012 to June 2015. Participants were 9 women undergoing cesarean and one breastfeeding teacher who were selected purposefully. The method of data collection was an in-depth semi-structured interview. Obtained data were analyzed through conventional content analysis.
The codes derived from analysis of interviews were labeled in four categories: amount and conditions of breastfeeding education before and after childbirth, content and method of breastfeeding education before and after childbirth, barriers to effectiveness of education before and after childbirth, and suggestion about the most appropriate time and method for breastfeeding education.
Most of the mothers do not have suitable conditions to learn how to breastfeed after baby delivery. Thus, the best time for initiation of breastfeeding education is during pregnancy, especially in the last weeks and days. After baby delivery and during the postpartum period, breastfeeding education has to be continued. Group-based breastfeeding education decreases the quality of education while the most appropriate way for breastfeeding education is individual education on mother’s bedside.

Since nursing profession is deeply rooted in the concept of emotions, and emotions management in order to express the expected emotion demonstration has got high importance, conducting descriptive researches in different fields of exploring latent aspects of the relevant field are deemed essential. Therefore, the main objective of the current research was to explore contents of emotional labor dimensions among exemplary nurses in public hospitals of Mashhad City, Iran.
This was a descriptive research drawing upon the strategy of phenomenology. Semi-structured deep interviews were used to collect the data. In order to analyze collected data, Colaizzi approach was employed. The research population included all national exemplar nurses at public hospitals of Mashhad City. They were interviewed considering purposeful sampling and its adequacy.
For surface acting dimension, 5 sub-categories in 2 main themes of the emotional mask, and emotional deal, and for deep acting dimension, 15 sub-categories in 5 main themes of emotional withdrawal, emotional empathy, emotional arousal, emotional sharing, and emotional reflection were achieved.
Findings of the current research provide valuable insight regarding emotional labor performed by national exemplar nurses in the population. Thus, a correct understanding of this concept as a valid source in constructing professional knowledge of nurses can be placed as the main part of nursing competency; through which the quality of patients’ care can be promoted and life quality can be improved as a result.

Given the space literature on explaining how the attitudes toward marriage are formed in Iran, this study aimed to explain the formation process of attitude toward marriage in Iranian married students.
This was a qualitative study of the grounded theory type in the academic year of 2014-2015. The sample consisted of 18 married students in Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran, chosen through purposive sampling. In-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the data. Data analysis was carried out using Strauss and Corbin’s three-step coding model (open, axial, selective).
The "relative change in attitudes toward marriage" was central class of paradigmatic pattern. The classes of sociocultural factors, early experiences, and observation of incomplete patterns were the causal conditions in this pattern. Three classes of awareness of and understanding each other, material and spiritual support, and realizing the sanctity of marriage were the intervening conditions. Pressures for marriage, interference of parents, intergenerational transmission, as well as economic factors were regarded as contextual conditions. Coping strategies proportional to attitudes were identified as interactive actions. Perceived personal development and willingness in marriage, ambivalence toward deciding to marry, and increase in the age of marriage were provided as the consequences of this paradigmatic pattern.
According to paradigmatic pattern, changing attitudes towards marriage is a fundamental factor in encouraging young people to marry, which can be implemented through a systematic approach. According to this approach, promoting successful patterns of marriage in society, moral and material support by parents, teaching coping strategies commensurate with the challenges of marriage, increasing marriage preparation skills, and government support in forming counseling units run by professional family psychologists and counselors are recommended.