Journal of Qualitative Research in Health Sciences
Volume:11 Issue: 2, Summer 2022

 Community health volunteers link people and health workers and they voluntarily contribute to community health. Given the importance of the engagement of volunteers in promoting health programs and improving the quality of care provided, this study aimed to explore the experience and perceptions of community health volunteers of comprehensive health service centers in the western regions of Ahvaz to identify the most critical factors motivating their participation in health programs.
This qualitative study was conducted in 2017 on community health volunteers in comprehensive health service centers in western Ahvaz. The data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted face-to-face with 35 community health volunteers. The conventional qualitative content analysis approach was used to analyze the collected data.
Data analysis revealed 302 primary codes, 27 subthemes, and ten main themes. The ten main themes extracted in this study, including the physical context, organizational context, social context, climatic context, cultural context, increasing health knowledge, material factors, psychological factors, social factors, and spiritual factors, constituted the factors affecting the community health volunteers’ motivation to participate in health programs.
Community health volunteers’ motivation to participate in health programs is influenced by factors such as physical context, organizational context, social context, climatic context, cultural context, increasing health knowledge, material factors, psychological factors, social factors, and spiritual factors. Thus, failure to pay attention to these factors will reduce the community health volunteers’ incentives to promote health programs, decrease volunteers’ cooperation with centers, reduce the quality of care provided, and ultimately waste the funds spent on volunteers’ training and preparation.

The implementation of the performance-based payment scheme sparked a hope that the changes in the payment of financial rewards to employees in a fair manner and based on their performance can increase employees’ motivation and job satisfaction. Accordingly, this study investigated the consequences of performance-based payments and regulatory schemes from the perspective of health managers in selected educational and medical centers in Isfahan. This qualitative study was conducted using a phenomenological approach. The data in this study were collected through in-depth interviews with eleven experts working in the management divisions of hospitals and central offices as well as the staff and faculty members of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The respondents were selected using purposive sampling. The collected data were analyzed using the content analysis method. The consequences of performance-based payments were explained by one main theme (the consequences of implementing the performance-based payment plan in the health system) and four subthemes. Besides, one main theme (the general national and professional factors of the health system affecting the regulatory schemes) and five subthemes accounted for regulatory schemes. Payment regulatory schemes should be formulated effectively to address the problems associated with the current payment system so that the establishment of a performance-based payment system can serve as a mechanism to achieve this goal and a basis for reforming the existing payment systems.

Living with an intellectually disabled child in the family is associated with some concerns and challenges. However, mothers who play the traditional role of “caregiver” have to take on more responsibilities for their intellectually disabled children. Thus, they face more pressures and psychological problems and experiences. To this end, this study aimed to explore the lived experiences of mothers of children with intellectual disabilities. This qualitative study was conducted using a phenomenological approach. The participants were 12 mothers of children with intellectual disabilities who were selected using purposive sampling. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with the participants. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using Colaizzi’s method of data analysis. Analysis of the experiences of the mothers of children with intellectual disabilities revealed 7 main themes (blame, concerns about the future, child behavioral problems, disrupted interactions, stigma and social isolation, negative thoughts and feelings, and positive achievements) and 16 subthemes that were coded into subcategories of the main themes. The findings of this study can provide valuable insights into the severity of problems faced by mothers with intellectually disabled children and contribute to adopting supportive treatment strategies for these mothers and improving their mental health. These data can make professionals working with intellectually disabled children familiar with the main challenges and concerns and pave the way for psychologists and psychiatrists to design effective interventions based on the experiences of mothers and the cultural norms of the Iranian community.

Burn patients who may be hospitalized for a few days to a few months find themselves in an unfamiliar environment over which they often have no control. Since the successful management of these patients requires a comprehensive understanding of their experiences, this study aimed to explain the burn patients’ experiences of hospitalization using a content analysis approach.
The present study was conducted using a qualitative design with a conventional content analysis approach. The participants were 9 burn patients admitted to the burn unit of Amir al-Momenin Ali Hospital in Zabol in 2019 who were selected through purposive sampling. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed based on the steps proposed by Graham and Landmann. The validity and robustness of the data were checked.
Based on the results of data analysis, 2 main categories and 5 subcategories were extracted: (1) bitter moments of hospitalization (emotional bitterness during hospitalization, bitter dressing moments, and bitter moments of pain perception) and (2) duality of nursing care (lack of nursing care and nurses’ compassionate care).
The analysis of the experiences of the burn patients showed that they experienced bitter moments after their hospitalization, while in addition to compassionate care, sometimes they felt the lack of nursing care. It is hoped that this study, by providing a clear picture of the hospitalization experiences of burn patients, can help officials and managers of burn units to take appropriate measures to address existing nursing care gaps, improve the hospitalization of these patients, and guide the implementation of nursing care strategies at the time of hospitalization of these patients.

Marital infidelity as a traumatic event can endanger the married life of couples and lead them to divorce. This study aimed to identify the psychological reactions and the process of dealing with the disclosure of marital infidelity in the betrayed person. The present study was conducted using a qualitative method based on grounded theory. The research population included all married people living in Tehran, who had experienced marital infidelity in their marital life. The participants were 20 individuals who experienced marital infidelity and were selected through purposive sampling in 2019. The data were collected via semi-structured interviews with the participants and analyzed simultaneously using open, axial, and selective coding. The reactions to the disclosure of marital infidelity were classified into two main themes (psychological reactions and physical reactions) and eight subthemes. The psychological reactions were shock and denial, anger and hatred, anxiety and rumination, feeling depressed and frustrated, cognitive errors, negative emotions, sleep disorders, and physical symptoms. The couples reacted to their spouse’s infidelity under the influence of contextual and situational factors and decided whether to continue living together. These decisions ranged from forgiving or not forgiving the spouse, forgetting the infidelity, coercion to continue living together, and separation and divorce. The results of the study showed that with an awareness of the psychological reactions to the exposure of spousal infidelity and its contextual and situational factors, it is possible to understand the nature of problems and develop psychological interventions fitting couples’ social and cultural conditions.

The first years of life are a critical period for a child due to the development of basic functions such as behavior, emotions, and motivation. The child needs an environment conducive to growth and development. This environment is built through effective parental care. The present study aimed to identify the factors affecting compassion or shame in mother-child interaction.
The study was an applied one in terms of its objectives and qualitative as a grounded theory method was used for data collection. The participants were 12 mothers with 2 to 7-year-old children selected via theoretical sampling. The data were collected using in-depth and exploratory interviews with the participants. The collected data were recorded, coded, and placed into main categories. Afterward, the initial codes were identified and the categories addressing the mother-child interaction based on compassion and shame were identified using axial coding.
Analysis of the qualitative data revealed that the mother-child interaction includes categories such as “parenting styles, induction of compassion, induction of shame, fear of compassion, receiving compassion from others, self-compassion, and coping styles”.
The findings of the present study can contribute to developing training programs for promoting compassion-based mother-child interaction, preventing the induction of shame by the mother, and improving the mother-child relationship. Counselors, psychologists, nurses, and midwives can also use the insights from this study to develop training programs for mothers.

The high rate of complete suicide in older adults on the one hand and the low report of suicidal thoughts by them compared to other groups on the other hand, indicate the importance of suicide in this group. The objective of this study was to explore the structural factors contributing to suicidal ideation in Iranian older adults.
This was a qualitative study using grounded theory approach. The sample included a total of 13 community-dwelling (visiting day-care centers and psychiatric clinics) and institutionalized older adults aged 60 years or above selected using purposive and theoretical sampling methods. The data were collected using in-depth  semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using constant comparative method, constant review of the written text of the interviews, field notes, and memo writing via Strauss and Corbin’s method.
The results indicated 2 main categories including perceived adversities and negative self-concept that were represented in the form of 10 subcategories including having a difficult life, financial strain, retirement, disempowerment, disrupted family, being lonely, being a trouble to others, self-perceived uselessness, lack of control over life, and losing reputation.
Suicidal ideation among Iranian older adults occurs in the context of negative life events that can cause significant pain and suffering. The concepts related to family, health, and performance of older adults are especially important in the development of suicidal thoughts due to their cultural significance. Therefore, professionals and policymakers can reduce suicidal ideation in older adults by enriching social interactions, increasing welfare activities, paying more attention to spiritual capacities, and generally reducing the structural challenges in day-care centers and nursing homes.

The 12-step Narcotics Anonymous (NA) program can provide support for the recovery of people with substance use disorder. This organization considers spirituality as the most important factor in fighting temptations and finding ways for long-term improvement through personal change and spiritual awakening. Thus, this study was conducted in southeast Iran to explore the lived experiences of the members of Narcotics Anonymous and to clarify what spiritual awakening means to them.
This is a hermeneutic phenomenological study inspired by Ricoeur’s philosophy and explained by Lindseth and Norberg. The participants were asked to narrate their experiences of spiritual awakening via in-depth semi-structured interviews. Interpretation of transcribed interviews was performed in three stages: naïve understanding, structural analysis, and comprehensive understanding.
The present study showed spiritual awakening in the NA members can be considered as opening the doors of perception to a higher reality. This theme consists of seven subthemes, including (1) Being accepted and embraced by fellow pain sufferers through their very presence, (2) Being connected to a higher power and freedom from self-centeredness, (3) Self-reorganization and acceptance through self-reflective practice, (4) Taking responsibility by stopping making excuses and starting making changes, (5) Cultivating a culture of continuous care, (6) Connecting with the true self and spreading unconditional love, and (7) Living in the flow of life and learning from nature.
Following the principles of the 12-step program, the NA members managed to recover from addiction, fill their existential voids, and become loving people who have accepted guidance and have surrendered. Conducting qualitative studies and reflecting on the experiences of people who have recovered from addiction is a source of knowledge that can be a guide to implementing preventive measures and medical interventions for other addicts, the general public, and healthcare providers.