This paper seeks to illuminate the sociocultural contexts of attempting suicide among Iranian youth. A qualitative approach was employed to uncover the social and cultural dimensions of attempting suicide. In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 participants aged 14-17 years who attempted suicide and were admitted to 2 of the hospitals in Isfahan. A thematic analysis approach was employed. The main themes identified were failure in love, family problems, study, pressure of high expectations and poverty. The findings suggest significant sociocultural influence on attempting suicide in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Exploring sociocultural aspects of suicide is critical in providing effective and culturally-sensitive suicide prevention and care programmes.

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ObjectiveTo explore how midwifery students in Iran experience learning clinical skills.MethodsA qualitative study was used. Midwifery students from three universities in Iran participated. The study used a convenience sample of eighteen students. Data for this study was collected using semi-structured interviews (N=12) and focus groups (N=6). Data were recorded on a digital audio recorder and then transcribed. The qualitative data were analyzed using a content analysis approach. ResultsSix broad themes emerged from the analysis: Limited opportunities to experience skills, difficulties with course plan gaps, need for creating a supportive clinical environment, learning drives, confusion between different methods, and stress in the clinical setting. Short verbatim quotations from the participants were presented to provide evidence for the interpretation of data. ConclusionsThe findings of this study have provided a clear picture of the factors and mechanisms involved in learning clinical skills by midwifery students. This study showed that students had some difficulties and concerns during learning of clinical midwifery skills. The findings of this study suggest that midwifery educators conduct further studies to tackle these issues in clinical skills learning. The findings of this study are subject to some limitations which are discussed.

Background: The health transformation plan (HTP) was put into action in Iran, in 2014, with 8 service packages. This plan was not implemented as a pilot and therefore, various problems and barriers have since emerged. Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the economic challenges of inpatient payment reduction directive in HTP from the perspectives of 2 groups of experts in levels of hospital and university held in 2 time periods. Methods: In this qualitative study, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 participants involved in the healthcare reform in hospitals as well as the executive committee of HTP in universities. Results: Data collection resulted in 36 descriptive codes presenting the economic challenges of the payment reduction directive in thems of insurance / tariffs and financial affairs in the period of 3 months and 1 year since the beginning. Interviewees then suggested their solutions. Conclusions: Challenges trends over times show that some parts of challenges are changing. In addition, challenges interact with each other and could be avoided just by appropriate planning. On the other hand, execution of this directive was extremely costly for the government; it would be better to allocate resources with meticulous planning and designs.

Background Complex psychological and physiological changes occur in women’s body during pregnancy. These changes affect both oral health status and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). In almost all of the previous cross-sectional design studies on pregnant women, generic OHRQoL instruments have been used to measure OHRQoL. While such instruments may be reliable, they may not be appropriate to evaluate the OHRQoL in special populations like pregnant women. The purpose of this study was to investigate the self-perceived factors affecting the OHRQoL among pregnant women. Methods In this qualitative descriptive study, twenty- seven pregnant women were recruited from four healthcare centers located in Isfahan city, Iran. The interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to collect and analyze the data. Four criteria of credibility, dependability, transferability, and confirmability were implemented through established procedures to confirm the study rigor. Results Three major themes and six sub-themes capturing the impacts of pregnancy on women’s OHRQoL were identified. They covered all areas of life, including daily life, psychological well-being, social life, physical impact, and also barriers to utilization of dental care services. Some new domains such as “dentists’ refusal to treat pregnant women”, “negative feelings about pregnancy” and “concerns about fetal health” were found as important factors which could influence the OHRQoL during pregnancy. Conclusion The findings help to better understand the oral health issues impacting women during pregnancy and to achieve person-centered care and improved oral health outcomes in pregnant women. The conceptual framework created based on the results of this study may help health care workers and policy makers for improving the health of pregnant women.