Perceptions of professional challenges by emergency medical services providers: a qualitative content analysis study.

INTRODUCTION: Emergency medical services (EMS) providers encounter a variety of challenges due to the unpredictable, uncontrollable, and dynamic conditions in the pre-hospital field. This study explored the perceived professional challenges among EMS providers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted using a qualitative research approach and the method of content analysis. Eighteen EMS providers were purposively selected from EMS stations in Hamadan, Iran. The collected data were then analyzed based on the Granheim and Lundman's method. RESULTS: Based on data analysis, five categories and one theme were identified. The extracted theme was professional challenges. The five categories were as follows: Ineffective policies; multicultural and multidisciplinary factors; ambulance dispatch route problems; legal issues; and abuse against the emergency medical services CONCLUSION: In general, it has been found that EMS providers encounter numerous and complex professional challenges during their work. EMS managers can utilize the findings of the present study to develop strategies for reducing the professional challenges faced by EMS providers. By doing so, they can improve the quality of care in the prehospital field.

The design and psychometric evaluation of a COVID-19 social stigma questionnaire in nurses.

BACKGROUND: The patient's fear of social reactions, the disease stigma, and being a transmission agent is a psychological and social consequence of contracting some diseases, especially infectious ones, in any society. The present study aimed to design and psychometrically evaluate a COVID-19 social stigma questionnaire in nurses. METHODS: This mixed-method study was conducted using a sequential exploratory approach according to the Creswell method in Mazandaran Province (Iran) during 2021-22. The study was performed in three phases: (1) a qualitative phase to explain the key concept, (2) designing the scale items, and (3) an experimental phase with the scale psychometric evaluation. In the first phase, nurses' experiences regarding the concept of COVID-19 social stigma were evaluated using a qualitative method with an inductive qualitative content analysis approach. In this phase, the lived experiences of 12 nurses working at hospitals of Babol University of Medical Sciences were extracted through in-depth interviews with semi-structured questions and analyzed by conventional content analysis. The main classes are contradictory feelings, rejection, and adaptation strategies. In the second phase, the designed items were validated by determining face validity, content validity, and construct validity using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). In addition, the scale's reliability was determined through internal consistency and stability. RESULTS: Following the study's first phase, a pool of questions with 64 initial items was formed. After evaluating face and content validity, the number of items was reduced to 24 cases. An excellent total content validity (S-CVI/Ave) of 0.93 was calculated for the scale. According to EFA outputs, three factors accounted for the most variance (52.82%), and four items were excluded in this phase. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) statistic and Bartlett's test of sphericity were calculated at 0.776 and P < 0.001, respectively. The results of Cronbach's alpha (0.796) and intraclass correlation (0.793) indicated the correlation and internal consistency of the scale. CONCLUSION: This scale can help healthcare managers and policymakers apply necessary protective measures by evaluating the social stigma of COVID-19 in nurses and emerging infectious diseases that may occur in the future.

Nurses' experiences of the social stigma caused by the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study.

Background: One of the psychological issues that health personnel face when treating COVID-19 patients is the societal stigma. This issue has not been addressed due to the disease's devastating impact on numerous sectors of society. This study aimed to evaluate nurses' experiences of social stigma caused by the COVID-19 pandemic with a qualitative approach. Methods: Inductive qualitative content analysis was used to conduct this qualitative research. COVID ward nurses who had been subjected to social stigma were chosen as the study sample. Data were collected through semi-structured and individual interviews and were concurrently analysed using the conventional content analysis approach recommended by Graneheim and Lundman. Results: There are three categories and six sub-categories of social stigma experienced by nurses: (1) paradoxical emotions (psychological stress and positive attitude), (2) abandonment (all-round rejection and isolation) and (3) coping strategies (self-awareness over time and the influential role of the media). Conclusions: The findings of this study can help healthcare managers to improve the quality of care by enhancing understanding of the psychological needs arising from social stigma. Based on these findings, designing psychosocial interventions related to stigma can promote the mental health of this group and their families.

The psychosocial challenges of mothers of children with thalassemia: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Caring for the children suffering from thalassemia is a stressful experience with various aspects making the mothers face various challenges. Thus, the present study aimed to explain the psychosocial challenges of mothers with thalassemia children based on their lived experience. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this qualitative study, which was conducted using the phenomenological method, 14 mothers with thalassemia children were selected from two thalassemia treatment centers in Hamadan and Babol (Iran) in 2020 using the purposive sampling method. Data were collected using in-depth and semi-structured interviews and were analyzed by van Manen's phenomenological methodology. RESULTS: In the first stage of data analysis, 534 initial codes were extracted, which were reduced to 290 by comparison and integration. The primary themes turned into 24 secondary themes after clustering. By comparing the secondary themes, three main themes (i.e., "psychological distress," "bodily burnout," and "mothers' need to empathy and support") with 7 secondary themes (i.e., "emotional exhaustion," "mental strain," "social stigma," "acute psychosomatic reactions," "long-term psychosomatic consequences," "expectation of family support," and support needs outside the family) were extracted. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that mothers with thalassemia children experience several challenges in various aspects. Therefore, they require care interventions and psychosocial support.

Experiences of Nursing Students in the Care for Patients Diagnosed With COVID-19: A Qualitative Study.

The present study examined the experiences of nursing students in the care of patients diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This qualitative study was performed based on inductive qualitative content analysis in 2020. The samples were 10 nursing students who were selected purposively from the emergency and intensive care unit wards of hospitals affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Data were collected through semistructured and individual interviews and analyzed simultaneously and continuously by Granheim and Landman inductive qualitative content analysis. Experiences of nursing students in the care for patients with COVID-19 include 3 main categories and 7 subcategories: (a) psychological stress (fear of ward and patients and mental conflict), (b) social isolation (rejection by the family and friends, isolation, and concealment of the workplace), and (c) coping strategies as an adaption strategy (a positive impact of spirituality and an effective role of increasing information). According to the findings of this study, the education system and university administrators can help reduce psychological stress and improve the quality of care in nursing students.

A Qualitative Study Exploring the Experiences of Mothers Caring for Their Children with Thalassemia in Iran.

Background: Mothers of children with thalassemia usually experience many sufferings and challenges in caring of their children. The present study aimed to explore the experiences of mothers caring for their children with thalassemia. Methods: In this qualitative study, 14 mothers caring for their children with thalassemia in Hamedan and Babol Cities, Iran were selected using purposeful sampling, from December 2019 to August 2020. Data were collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Graneheim and Lundman's approach of conventional content analysis was used for data analysis. Results: After data analyzing, four themes, including physical distress, psychological suffering, hellish life, and self-negligence, as well as nine categories, including the mother's physical problems, physical weakness, confusion, painful emotions, restless life, involvement in a painful caring process, turmoil in the family, neglect of one's health, and disregard for the occurrence of psychosomatic illnesses, were extracted. Conclusion: Our findings provide a broad range of context-specific challenges that mothers of thalassemic child faced during caring of their children that can affect different aspects of their life and health. Thus, mothers of children with thalassemia need various types of support such as social, emotional, and informational support during caring process of their children.