Coping facilitators of health care professionals in the Iran-Iraq war: A qualitative study

Attendance at war and its unusual circumstances is stressful for many people, including health care providers. So far, the process of coping and its facilitators in stressful condition of crisis has not been identified in healthcare providers. The aim of this study was to determine coping facilitators of the healthcare professionals in the Iran- Iraq war. In a content analysis of qualitative data extracted from 119 written narratives during the Iran- Iraq war (from 101 health care staffs), data were collected, coded, and analyzed, simultaneously, between 2014 and 2016. In order to analyze the data, the principles of qualitative data analysis were used. The analysis of 952 pages of the written narratives in the relevant literature led to the emergence of 5 main themes including strong motivation for defense / presence, high resistance, social support, reassurance, and doing other activities. The converting of hidden experience and knowledge of health care providers in Iran-Iraq war to the explicit knowledge can effectively identify, analyze problems, and finally provide strategies to prevent similar scenarios. Moreover, this can produce the knowledge in the field of adaptation facilitating and better coping of health care providers in the unusual and critical situation.