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Objective: With the increasing number of incarcerated women worldwide, the rate of women who experience pregnancy in prison, has also increased in this population. Exploring the unique experience of pregnant prisoners can contribute to understanding the complex world of this vulnerable population and, as a result, tailoring programs to promote their health status. The objective of this study was to understand the psychological experience of pregnancy in prison based on the lived experiences of incarcerated women., Methods: This was a qualitative inquiry using van Manen's approach to phenomenology. Seven pregnant and four early postpartum women, with experience of pregnancy during incarceration, were selected purposefully in a prison in Iran from 2019 to 2020. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. To analyze data, six-step van Manen's descriptive-interpretive phenomenological approach was adopted using MAXQDA10 software., Results: The main theme of "white torture", a term used to describe the psychological and emotional distress experienced by incarcerated pregnant women, emerged from the data analysis. This theme echoes the pressure and torment of pregnancy on incarcerated women and consists of two subthemes: "captive to bitter and harsh emotions" and "suffering from psychosomatic pain and injuries.", Conclusion for Practice: As an emotional trauma, pregnancy puts incarcerated women under psychological torture. Policies should be developed towards the acknowledgment and meeting of the unique psychological needs of pregnant women in prison. It is also crucial for healthcare providers to provide women in prison with training on coping strategies to address the psychological and emotional challenges of pregnancy., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Present-day curricular designs have to take the pupils' psychological needs in account, thus becoming melodies of mental health and happiness for the next generation. Emphasizing the findings from previous investigations using the research synthesis methodology, the present study has been conducted aiming at achieving some integrative knowledge under the inclusive title of "Mental Health Improvement-based Curricular Content." Goal-oriented homogeneous sampling method was applied in order to select 100 research papers from Iranian scholars on the subject of pupils' mental health improvement using accredited databases between 2005 and 2016. Data analysis using open subject coding encompassing three stages, namely open, axial, and selective coding, indicated that a curriculum with contents in two overall categories of mental health literacy (optimism and positive thinking; socialization; monotheistic life; happiness; self-efficacy; self-awareness and self-actualization & …) and mental health skills (emotions management, interpersonal communication, critical thinking, adaptability, tolerance, and finally & …) has to be designed in order to improve the pupils' mental health.

English, particularly regarding a foreign language teachers' professional development, has been studied in depth. However, it is not known how Iranian English as a foreign language teachers perceive continuing professional development. This study explored the perceptions of Iranian English as a foreign language teachers of continuing professional development and identified their main professional development activities. For the study, a phenomenological research design was applied. Twenty English teachers were interviewed. The data were content analyzed in line with the Randor model. The results showed that the participants perceived continuing professional development to entail skills development, continuous learning, keeping up to date, learning for interest, and professional revitalization. Additionally, they developed professionally through work, formal education, and attending and presenting at continuing professional development events.

Background: Attitudes toward childhood disability have historically focused on biomedical efforts on 'fixing'. The introduction of WHO's ICF framework for health and Canadian researchers' 'F-words' (functioning, fitness, fun, friends, family and future) have significantly changed the field. To explore whether the F-words ideas influenced parents' perspectives on their child's abilities and rehabilitation goals, this qualitative pilot study introduced the F-words to Iranian parents with a child with a developmental disability., Methods: This study was conducted in Tabriz, Iran, in 2023, using Iranian educational F-words materials built on ideas available on the CanChild F-words Knowledge Hub. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with five mothers of children <5 years old with a developmental disability before and after attending an 'F-words Awareness Session' and analysed using thematic analysis., Results: In the preinterviews, six themes (and 20 subthemes) were identified: (i) routines (5); (ii) challenges (4); (iii) parental concerns (3); (iv) child's needs and priorities (3); (v) the role of parents in satisfying needs and challenges (2); and (vi) expectations of rehabilitation (3). In the postinterview, the same six themes and four additional subthemes emerged., Conclusion: Findings from the pilot study showed that the intervention had an impact on the attitudes and behaviours of participants. Specifically, teaching about the F-words reduced parents' emphasis on the concept of 'normality'. Families' positive response to the 'F-words Awareness Session' indicates their openness to incorporating this approach into their daily lives. These findings highlight the potential benefits of utilizing the F-words in rehabilitation in Iran. Studies like these can serve as a foundation for developing effective strategies for integrating the F-words into existing rehabilitation practices in Iran., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Mainstream trends of English language teaching (ELT) are predominantly constructed within the epistemological boundaries shaped by the traditional conceptions of linguistics, learning, and teaching as well as positivist research methodology. What tends to be overshadowed by such conceptions is the underlying foundational belief structure of ELT theory, research, and practice. Such beliefs may be named in various ways, including under the rubric of "ideology." Despite the forbidding stigmas attached to the word ideology, rooted in the Marxist tradition, this study adopts a more tangible conception of the term as "the most fundamental assumptions underlying any social practice," to explore ideologies of ELT in Iran. We examine the ideological assumptions detectable in the mainstream research scene of the country reflected in presentations at major national applied linguistics conferences within the past decade, as well as the ideological assumptions of a thread of alternative qualitative-critical ELT research in a few Iranian universities during the same period. The study uncovers a pentagonal dominant ideology as well as a struggling alternative ideological orientation. On this basis, the ideological landscape of the Iranian ELT arena is problematized and discussed along with probable extended messages for other contexts around the world.

Purpose: This paper explores the challenges of conducting qualitative research from ELT (English Language Teaching) Ph.D. candidates' perspectives. Design/methodology/approach: The participants of the study consisted of 30 Iranian Ph.D. students majoring in ELT. The semi-structured interview was employed to investigate the heart of experiences, issues and concerns of participants with regard to conducting qualitative research (QLR) challenges. To analyze the collected data, the recorded interviews were transcribed, and then the grounded theory approach was employed (Charmaz, 2006). Findings: The results revealed that the major challenges of the participants consist of the credibility of QLR in ELT contexts, hermeneutic and fuzzy nature of QLR, qualitative data analysis and interpretation, publishing qualitative findings and the system of measuring professors' productivity. Originality/value: The findings may help professors, mainly EFL ones, in research mentoring and developing research syllabi for graduate students. In addition, it may motivate Ph.D. candidates to employ QLR methods in their research studies. The pedagogical and theoretical implications of the study are discussed at the end of the paper.

In this study, the variables having impact on the student motivation have been analyzed based on the articles, conference papers, master's theses and doctoral dissertations published in the years 2000-2017. A total of 165 research papers were selected for the research material and the data were collected through qualitative research techniques through document review and content analysis. According to the research results, the most important factors affecting student motivation are the fields of teacher, teachers' classroom management skills and their teaching methods. In this research, factors having less influence on the student motivation are parental communication, student characteristics and study fields. In addition, relational search type was used more than others, mostly students were selected as the study group and most researches were conducted in USA and Turkey.

This article describes a qualitative study that investigated critical reflection in the hope that effective learning is objectified. It is the fruit of rumination on how critical reflection approach would affect learners' performance in narrative writing. The idea for this paper arose when the researchers consistently utilized ploys effective for five EFL students' learning of narrative writing in critical reflection process in an institute. Later, these ploys were categorized in three themes under three categories in teaching narrative writing. Data were gathered via students' reflective writings. Gathered data were interpreted in the real setting by small scale grounded theory analysis. The final upshot demonstrated the criticality of students' thoughts in their paper. The findings reveal the significance of optimal rapport and intimacy in which participants move ahead from mechanical learning to more cooperative approach in language learning with thorough reflection in their narrations for effective learning to take place.

This paper provides an account of social integration and professional recognition of non-English-speaking-background (NESB) teachers of English in Australia. The case study profiles two Iranian postgraduate students of English teaching in an Australian university and describes their struggle to construct a social and professional identity. The students' intercultural interaction strategies within their academic and professional community are explored and compared with those of their native colleagues. This paper emerged from a larger-scale qualitative study on identification of second language interaction strategies of postgraduate international students in Australia. The discussions can help Iranian English teachers to gain a foretaste of the ongoing struggles they may face as nonnative English teachers in English-speaking countries.

This paper contributes to the growing body of knowledge which identifies benefits for Blended Learning in the understanding of social processes role. It reports on an exploratory study into the role of social presence in blended learning environment. Employing a qualitative methodology, the study sought to understand social presence of learners in Blended Learning environment. The paper presents the definition of social presence as described by blended learning instructors and it's role in the development of Blended Learning environment.

Background: Challenge between parents and their children is a rapidly growing phenomenon in Iran. The communication challenges of adolescence with emphasis on social media in this study is a phenomenon that based on the changes and developments of adolescence, can affect the nature and quality of family relationships, question the parental authority, and cause changes in regulations. The present study explored the communication challenges of parents and adolescents with a focus on the use of the Internet and social media. Methods: This qualitative study was performed using content analysis. The research population consisted of several parents with children (daughters) who were studying in the first secondary school in District 11 of Tehran in the academic year 2019-2020. The participants were 15 parents who were selected using purposive sampling and based on the theoretical saturation criterion. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were then analyzed, codified, and categorized. Finally, after the extraction of the themes, the relevant and common themes were combined in the form of secondary and main categories. Results: Based on the content analysis of the data collected from the interviews, 4 main categories were identified: social media opportunities, social media coping strategies, social media problems from the parents’ point of view, and communication problems with the child. Conclusion: In the modern world, parent-adolescent communication challenges are intermingled with the common challenges of using social media. However, it is impossible to ignore the effective and useful presence of social media in modern life. Acquiring knowledge, training conflict resolution skills, and recognizing the factors related to conflicts between parents and adolescents can help parents and pave the way for reducing parent-adolescent conflicts and improving the quality of parent-adolescent communication concerning social media use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging causes the reduction in physical and physiological strength and an increase in the odds of affliction with chronic physical and mental diseases ultimately affecting the quality of life (QoL). So far, several primary studies have been conducted on the impact of religious-spiritual education and care on the QoL of the elderly. However, to the best of our knowledge, a study that compiles and represents these findings in a published paper is lacking. Therefore, the current study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the effect of religious-spiritual education and care on the QoL of the elderly population. To access studies related to the aim of the study, SID, MagIran, IranMedex, IranDoc, Embase, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases were searched. The search was done using relevant and validated keywords with MeSH/Emtree without time limitations until December 2021. The qualitative appraisal of the papers was done using the JBI checklist. To estimate the heterogeneity of studies, I2 index was used, and to combine the data and carry out a meta-analysis, Random Effects model was used. In the primary research, 1065 studies were found. The omission of the redundant cases led to a total number of 12 papers with a sample size of 317 in the intervention group and 321 in the control to be included in the meta-analysis. After the intervention, the mean score of QoL showed a significant increase by 1.42 ± 0.31 with a Confidence Interval of 95% (P<0.001). Meta-regression results showed that the increase in the year of conducting the study, and the number of intervention sessions, that the standardized mean difference had a decreasing trend, and that with the increase in the average age of the elderly, there was a rising trend (P<0.001). Therefore, it seems that the application of religious-spiritual education and care could be part of a program to improve the QoL of the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceptual (mis)matches between teachers and learners are said to affect learning success or failure. Self-assessment, as a formative assessment tool, may, inter alia, be considered a means to minimize such mismatches. Therefore, the present study investigated the extent to which learners' assessment of their own speaking performance, before and after their being provided with a list of agreed-upon scoring criteria followed by a practice session, matches that of their teachers. In so doing, 29 EFL learners and six EFL teachers served as participants; the learners were asked to assess their audio-recorded speaking performance before and after their being provided with the scoring criteria and practice session. The teachers were also asked to assess the learners' performance according to the same criteria. Finally, the learners were required to evaluate the effectiveness of doing self-assessment in the form of reflection papers. The results revealed a significant difference between the learners' assessment of their own speaking ability on the two occasions. The findings also suggested that providing the learners with the scoring criteria and the follow-up practice session minimized the existing mismatches between learner assessment and teacher assessment. Moreover, the inductive analysis of the reflection papers yielded a number of themes suggesting that, despite some limitations, the learners' overall evaluation of the effectiveness of speaking self-assessment was positive.

Purpose: Research has shown that the discursive patterns students use in their email interactions with their teachers are not linguistically and socio-culturally appropriate. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to try to explore how socio-cultural conventions influence the Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' choices of discourse strategies in their email communications within an academic context. The study, then, investigates the impact of social distance and gender on the stylistic features of students' email texts. Design/Methodology/Approach: The email texts written by 180 university students majoring in Applied Linguistics were systematically analyzed based on such patterns as opening and closing moves, reduced forms, text connectives, symbolization and emoticons. Alternatively, three semi-structured interviews were conducted to gauge the participants' motives underlying the selection of particular discourse features. Findings: The findings revealed that students, despite many statements to the contrary, were aware of the socio-cultural conventions governing email writing style and could write status-appropriate email messages, which rightly reflected the etiquette of email communication within an academic context. Practical Implications: The findings may offer certain benefits to EFL teachers and students. Originality/Value: The paper highlights understanding of a specific social group in relation to their interaction with different status social groups in the context of a specific communication technology and to some extent the perceived effectiveness of such approaches by those invoking them.

Purpose: This paper aims to study the impact of increasing number of competitors on the organisational learning (OL) in tourism small and medium-sized enterprises. The focus of this study is the tourism and travel agencies (TTAs) of the City of Ahvaz where the OL was studied within TTAs insofar as increasing the number of competitors is concerned. The underlying question in this paper is whether or not the increasing number of competitors affects OL in TTAs of the City of Ahvaz. Design/Methodology/Approach: Using a longitudinal survey, OL was studied at individual, group and organisational levels. The research is based upon quantitative and qualitative methods. Owing to the small number of samples, in addition to questionnaire and quantitative analysis, authors made use of in-depth interviews. The first research was conducted in 2012, while the second one was done in 2014. Findings: It was found that in 2012, with its limited number of competitors in the market, learning in these organisations was desirable at individual level and not at group or organisational levels. On the other hand, both the quantitative and qualitative methods in 2014, with the increased number of TTAs, suggested that the quality of learning were desirable in all organisational levels in that year. Research Limitations/Implications: Care should be taken in generalising the results of the research to other TTAs because the size of the sample in this study was small. Moreover, structure and performance of TTAs may be different among various regions. In addition to the said limitation, it must be noted that some variables such as experience, education and gender were not consider in analysing the results of the study. Furthermore, OL in the TTAs might be affected by other variables that were not considered in this study. Originality/Value: Originality of the study is to link "OL" to the "competition". There is not any study with special focus on OL with approaching to competition, neither in travel and tourism literature nor in OL literature, and this study can be a starting point to raise further and future research and debates.

The Problem Statement (PS) section of a thesis, usually a subsection of the first chapter, is supposed to justify the objectives of the study. Postgraduate students are often ignorant of the rhetorical moves that they are expected to make in their PS. This descriptive study aimed to explore the rhetorical moves of the PS in Iranian master's (MA) degree theses. The study focused on 30 PSs written by MA Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) students. The samples were analyzed based on Swales' (1990) Create-a-research-space (CARS) model. The findings revealed the students' flaws in writing the PS where they typically presented the significance of their study. The results of the analysis of their written samples also showed that some of the students failed to address a problem as an academic issue based on the existing gap in the previous studies and failed to recommend ways to solve the problem. Students' awareness of the rhetorical structure of the PS may help them create higher-quality works in academic settings. This study has theoretical and pedagogical implications, a discussion of which concludes the paper.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study and identify the effective components of higher education marketing and providing a marketing model for Iranian higher education private sector institutions. Design/methodology/approach: This study is a qualitative research. For identifying the effective components of higher education marketing and providing a marketing model the thematic analysis was used. First all the themes related to higher education marketing from the research references were collected and was analyzed by template analysis and thematic network methods. Findings: The results of thematic analysis revealed that there are 2 dominant themes, 13 global themes, 40 organizing themes and 503 basic themes related to higher education marketing. The relationships between these themes are provided as a marketing model for Iranian private sector higher educational institutions. Originality/value: There are few studies of higher education marketing in the Iranian higher education market. This study provides useful information about effective components of higher education marketing and marketing models.

Life in a society requires the acceptance of some restrictions and rules that they applied to the individuals from the community and other social organizations. So, it can be said that socialization is a process that citizens, by its help, learns the values, beliefs and behavior standards which social environment has expected of them. In order to, the aim of this paper is analysis of the status of sociability variables in the Iran high school textbooks with point on Shahid Motahari (Note 1) derived thoughts in framework of social theories. Applied methodology is based on librarian and documentary approach, and these proofs are like data for this research. According to this research goal, sampling was used of purposeful and theoretical sampling. Results showed that if a person does not put itself as a separate part of its community, and if some activities carried out are in accordance with the society existence and applied, it as an element to affirm their identity. Finally, we analyze other parts of social ownership, social trust, and it is presented some suggestions.

During the last three decades in Iran, the government has had different policies on the privatization of education. After victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the new government closed all private schools for nearly a decade. Establishing and reopening Non-Governmental Schools (NGS) was the first action toward the privatization of education after the end of the war with Iraq in 1988. In recent years, there has been an increasing trend among owners of NGS toward closing their schools. This paper investigates factors influencing the closure of NGS through in-depth interviews with three groups: owners of active NGS, officers in the NGS Office, and owners of non-active NGS. The paper starts with an introduction, which is followed by the methodology of the research. The third section presents the findings of interviews. More specifically, this paper analyzes Iran's different strategies concerning the privatization of education based on Klein's Model. The paper ends with the conclusions.

The aim of this research is to do a critical development exploration based on the Islamic education in Iranian higher education. In this paper, logical analysis qualitative method was used. Through library studies, information was collected and analysis of the results was done. The information collecting tool was note taking and information was analyzed based on deductive category system. In the section of content analysis, the most important findings show that, for critical development in Iranian higher education four main and outstanding categories are necessary; the first category is: 1. Education and training of academics with spirit of critical thinking, 2. The continuity of on-going latitudinarianism of the seats and criticism in the universities. The second category is: 1. Creating room for liberality 2. Providing arguments and theorizing seats; third category: Reforming and accepting criticism; the fourth category: 1. Legal security for critics 2. Non-authoritarian and absolutism of officials and teachers. Results indicate that the above can bring the best solutions for critical development exploration in Iranian higher education based on the Islamic education.

The purpose of this paper is to express Avicenna's standpoints in the area of teachers' professional ethics. Making use of a qualitative approach and a descriptive-analytic method, this study attempted to describe and analyze Avicenna's viewpoints on prerequisites of teaching profession by the help of the available resources. In general, the results showed that skillful teacher needs to possess admirable ethical characteristics in his individual and social dimensions. He should attempt to educate his own soul before making any effort in educating others considering some important points. It is better for him to have prudence in all his affairs. He should not try to educate anybody before being acquainted with his/her traits. He also should be generous and faithful toward the others. Eventually, it is expected from such a kind of teacher to gain a very high level of skillfulness in advising and guiding the learners.

The present research sought to investigate how expert EFL teachers manage their class and keep its discipline. To this aim, the existing prior ELT (English Language Teaching) research on exemplary teachers' practices were reviewed and the typical class management strategies used were extracted. Moreover, 20 ELT specialists including teacher educators, university professors of applied linguistics, mentor teachers and language institute supervisors were selected through purposive snowball and convenience sampling methods, and were interviewed. Since they were directly dealing with teachers as trainers, supervisors, and mentors, they were considered as qualified informants. There were finally 4 themes and 3 sub-themes extracted from the qualitative content analysis of the interviews, which were presented in this paper along with sample extracts of the actual interview content. The themes included: expert teachers' identification power, use of external control, use of preventive management strategies and monitoring student behavior. The 3 sub-themes of the second theme were: clarification of expectations, use of body language and establishing rules and routines. Knowledge of these themes and sub-themes can shed light on a key behavioral aspect of expert English language teachers in class. These strategies, if followed properly, can set good examples for novice teachers and those who have problem managing their classes.

Reading strategies are plans for solving problems encountered during reading while learners are deeply engage with the text. So, comprehension is not a simple decoding of symbols, but a complex multidimensional process in which the leaner draws on previous schemata applying strategies consciously. In fact, metacognitive strategies are accessible versatile vehicles if the readers are aware and cognizant of their applications. This paper studied the most frequent used strategies by Iranian ESP students. Fifty six students completed 30-item questionnaire of MARSI (2002). It included three strategy categories: Problem Solving strategies (PROB), Global Reading strategies (GLOB), and Support strategies (SUP). Results indicated that students at the highest level perceived PROB strategies up to 58.93%, SUP strategies up to 32.14%, and GLOB strategies up to 30.37%. Ranking the individual strategies represented that the highest used strategies are strategy 8 (overall mean = 3.51), strategy 20 (overall mean = 3.52) and strategy 11 (overall mean = 3.77).

Needs analysis is fundamental to determine what students need to achieve through the medium of English accurately analysis. In this regard, the present study seeks to evaluate the ESP course book entitled "The ESP Course of Qur'anic Sciences and Tradition" taught at some universities in Iran. More specifically, the study aims to identify the students' perceptions of their needs and their attitudes towards the course book. To this end, a researcher-made questionnaire was used and accordingly an interview was run. Sample of this study consisted of 80 junior students majoring in Qur'anic Sciences and Tradition and 6 teachers teaching them. Results of the study revealed that the course book is appropriate for the students of the Qur'anic Sciences and Tradition course in general sense. However, the book did not get high evaluation in some issues. The findings of this study would enable the ESP instructors to pay more attention to the students' needs in designing the Qur'anic Sciences and Tradition textbook. The paper concludes with suggestions that may help improve the current English language course based on the students' attitudes and needs.

With the shift in language teaching towards a more learner-centered approach, there is now an emphasis on considering learners' views on what goes on in the classroom. Involving learners in selecting and evaluating classroom activities as well as listening to their voices and preferences can be helpful for teachers in planning lesson and designing materials. With this idea in mind, the present study focuses on the tertiary students' perceptions of "ideal English lesson" in Iran and Japan. 115 Iranian students completed a questionnaire designed by Littlewood (2010). The results were compared with the Littlewood's (2010) study with Japanese students as well as students from three Asian countries (Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mainland China). The findings show that for Iranian students non-communicative activities were regarded as an "ideal English lesson". Japanese students expressed generally more conservative preferences than their counterparts in Iran and the three other Asian countries. The results suggest that learners' beliefs about language learning, proficiency level, and future needs may affect their current preferred classroom activities. Implications for lesson planning and curriculum development are also discussed in this paper.

This paper analyses the challenges and opportunities for Pakistan arising out of Iran-Saudi rapprochement. The reconciliation between these two important countries for Pakistan will define its posture and policies in its immediate and extended neighbourhood. The paper while using qualitative research explores the potential challenges of this normalisation deal for Pakistan. It also discusses the prospects this deal opens up for Pakistan. The paper also proffers recommendations to mitigate the challenges and optimise the opportunities generated by Iran-Saudi rapprochement. The recommendations are primarily aimed at policy-making in the key Government stake holders such as Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, Economic Affairs Division, Planning Commission and Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis. Recommendations also take into account semi-Government institutions such as academia, Governmentsponsored think tanks and private entities such as research centres and business fraternity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to explore children's perspective of hope in living with leukemia through the utilization of drawing-based interview technique., Design and Methods: This qualitative study was conducted at the Children's Medical Center in Tehran with the participation of children aged 6 to 12 diagnosed with leukemia. The children were asked to prepare a drawing about hope then interviews were conducted face-to-face with each child after completing the drawing. Data analysis was conducted using the qualitative content analysis., Results: In the collection of a total of 20 drawings from school-age children with leukemia, each drawings has different metaphors symbolizing hope. Five themes emerged including positive thinking, embracing the sanctuary of maternal affection and collective caring, the ethereal glow of joy, the melody of resilient soul, and navigating the way back to home., Conclusion: Hope from the child's perspective can be achieved in simple, possible and accessible ways, making it easier for the family, community and healthcare system to inspire hope in their lives with Leukemia., Practice Implication: Health providers in pediatric oncology can integrate hope-based care interventions related to the factors influencing children's perspectives., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: This study aims to identify policy content challenges related to high-risk sexual behaviors, stimulant drugs, and alcohol consumption in Iranian adolescents., Methods: This qualitative study analyzed high-level and national documents pertaining to adolescent health, high-risk sexual behaviors, stimulant, and alcohol consumption in adolescents. The documents, which were published by public organizations between January 1979 and February 2023 and publicly available, were complemented by interviews with policymakers and executives. The study involved reviewing 51 papers and conducting interviews with 49 policymakers and executives at the national, provincial, and local levels who were involved in addressing adolescent behaviors related to high-risk sexual behaviors, stimulant, and alcohol consumption. The data collected was analyzed using conventional content analysis., Results: The study's results involved examining policy content and identifying challenges related to policy content. The analysis revealed that from the beginning of the Iranian revolution in 1979 until the late 1990s, the dominant approach in Iran was to deny the existence of high-risk behaviors among adolescents. However, in the early 2000s, the country began to adopt a new approach that acknowledged the social harms and ineffectiveness of previous strategies. As a result, a new policy framework was introduced to address high-risk behaviors among adolescents. The study's interviews with policymakers and executives identified 12 challenges related to policy content, including parallel programs, lack of institutional mapping, lack of evidence-based policymaking, lack of integrated approach regarding training, late parent training, lack of consideration of all occurrence reasons in adolescents' high-risk behaviors policymaking, and the existence of many abstinence policies regarding high-risk behaviors., Conclusions: The study's findings suggest that high-risk behaviors among adolescents in Iran are primarily a health issue, rather than a social or ideological one. Unfortunately, ideological approaches, stigma, and policymaking based on anecdotes rather than evidence have had a significant impact on this area. To improve policymaking in this domain, it is crucial to address these challenges by tackling stigma, adopting an integrated and holistic approach, and implementing evidence-based policies that consider all relevant aspects, including adolescents' subcultures and policy audiences. Such an approach can also be useful for other countries facing similar conditions., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In contemporary Iran, women with higher education face both gender discrimination and an unfavourable economic system, one that is not conducive to employment-generation for women. This paper provides an analysis of women's access to higher education in Iran, which has varied over the last 30 years, and their continuously limited participation in the job market. Based on qualitative field research, this paper includes the voices of individual women, discussing their experience of higher education and factors they think are contributing to their limited choice of employment. The paper suggests that while the recent trend in negotiating "mehrieh" (a nuptial gift which is payable by the groom to the bride) has been a strategy employed by Iranian women to overcome some of the discriminatory laws they are subject to, this trend cannot actually be explained by the fact that women's employment opportunities are limited. The paper concludes by asserting that limited labour force participation for educated women is a consequence of both political economy and gender ideology. (Contains 9 tables and 21 footnotes.)

This paper addresses the faculty perception on web-based instruction in order to explain the nature of learning and instruction in this setting. Using a mixed method approach, the research studied a sample of 132 University Faculty (lecturers and professors) in University of Kurdistan. The research tools were interview and questionnaire. The results of Exploratory Factor Analysis suggested that five basic components could explain the nature of learning and instruction of web-based instruction in higher education: "the lack of authentic learning, autonomy in learning tasks, the weakness of faculty role in instruction, technical skills in web-based instruction and infrastructure and policy-making." These five components could explicate two more fundamental themes: the overall nature of learning and teaching in web-based instruction and web-based obstacles.

As stated in numerous studies, entrepreneurship education is becoming more and more important everywhere in the world and research in entrepreneurship are growing and getting legitimacy in the scientific communities, however a few scholars have focused on the subfield of entrepreneurship education. Although the key to a successful entrepreneurship education is to find the most effective way to manage the teachable skills and identify the best match between student needs and teaching techniques, there is no universal pedagogical recipe to teach entrepreneurship and the choice of techniques and modalities depends mainly on the objectives, contents and constraints imposed by the institutional context. Education programs in entrepreneurship are a new phenomenon in Iran. These programs vary widely in terms of short term objectives, target audiences, format and pedagogical approach. The first M.Sc. entrepreneurship management program has been initiated in the University of Tehran in 2005. One of the basic courses in this entrepreneurship curriculum is "business planning". This paper attempts to identify the appropriate teaching methods in this course conducting two qualitative studies by semi-structured interviews. Results of the first study on a sample of experts in teaching methods complete the list of teaching methods that could be used in entrepreneurship education. The results of second study on a sample of lecturers of "business planning" course show that appropriate teaching methods of this course are respectively group project, case study, individual project, development of a new venture creation project, and problem-solving. Furthermore, in this study, the appropriate teaching methods in each component of this course have been presented.

Purpose: This paper aims to report the process and outcomes of a case study which introduced internal evaluation procedures into academic departments of a university in Iran. The purpose of the study was to identify what benefits could arise from using internal evaluation, and what obstacles existed to its successful introduction. Design/methodology/approach: This paper reports a case study of internal evaluation within the academic departments of a university in Iran. The case study research used a range of methods to collect information on the operation of the intervention. This paper addresses the findings of a recent longitudinal research in relation to the issue of internal evaluation. A qualitative methodology was used to gain the perceptions of faculty members and department directors and reactions to the effects of the internal evaluation on their work and improvement of department quality. The methods of data collection included interviews, group discussions and workshops. Findings: It was concluded in the study that internal evaluation processes are potentially valuable in Iranian universities but, if this value is to be realized on a continuous basis, particularly in the absence of external evaluation as an incentive, then it needs to become an integral part of each department, university, and the nationally accepted framework of quality assurance and management. Research limitations/implications: The research was only conducted in 23 academic departments where the departmental heads and members of faculty were in agreement with the pilot introduction of internal evaluation. Practical implications: There are considerable implications for the changes that would be needed in management and decision-making structures if the internal evaluation is to be fully effective. Originality/value: The paper is of value because there is considerable interest in systems of internal evaluation in universities, but there are few studies in developing countries and, in particular, there is no previous research in Iran. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper looked into the interplay between language and culture based on the metatext categories utilized by the writers in three speech communities: Philippines, Iran, and Taiwan. Specifically, it answered the following subproblems: (1) What metatext categories exist in the results-and-discussion section of ESL/EFL research articles written in Philippine English, Iranian English, and Taiwanese English?; (2) At what points are the metatext categories in the three speech communities parallel or contrasting?; and (3) What cultural features are revealed by the use of metatext categories in the three Asian Englishes? Data analyzed were the results-and-discussion sections of 15 research articles (RAs): ESL RAs representing the Philippine-English variety were published in the TESOL Journal in 2009, and EFL RAs representing both the Taiwanese-English and Iranian-English varieties were from the Asian EFL Journal published in 2008 and 2009. Two inter-raters helped in the coding of metatext categories in the genre examined and in the validation of the data gathered. Frequency and percentage counts were employed to examine the corpus. Results revealed that the relative frequency of preview and review categories was highest in Philippine English RAs than in Taiwanese English RAs and Iranian English RAs. In the three Asian Englishes, the number of previews was larger than the number of reviews. With regard to the use of connectors, all three Englishes were built on the additive cohesive relation. Further, they used both simple connectors, such as and, but, though, and yet and their complex alternatives, such as furthermore, on the other hand, in a similar vein, and in a similar sense--a preference for a more elaborate and a change-oriented rhetorical pattern. In addition, Philippine English had the most number of action markers, thus, implying the Philippine English's tendency to be more writer-responsible as compared with the Taiwanese English and Iranian English.

Background: Smuggling health goods given the importance and critical nature of health services should be undeniably addressed and controlled by all countries. This issue is especially more widespread in developing countries with more damaging consequences. This paper therefore aims to identify and analyze the challenges of preventing smuggling of health goods in Iran., Method: Within this qualitative study, we conducted face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with 30 purposefully recruited key informants and stakeholders in the detection, prevention, and combating of health goods smuggling. Each interview was analyzed thematically, using an inductive approach to generate codes, then categorized and presented in the form of main themes and sub-themes. Maxqda 11 assisted in coding, analysis, and data management., Results: Three main themes emerged representing the challenges of prevention of smuggling in Iran in the areas of anti-smuggling policy development, including categories of inefficient policy and plan, and failure to reach agenda; policy implementation; categorized into actors, resources and instruments, and implementation guarantee; and finally monitoring and evaluation; including, procedures and practices, and the role of surveyors., Conclusion: Prevention of smuggling health goods proves to be a highly complex, challenging, and multi-faceted practice. Therefore, strengthening policy-making, regulatory frameworks, and facilitation functions about smuggling, counterfeiting, and corruption should be promoted in parallel., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Self-management, as the most common method of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management, is not an isolated behaviour, but a set of physical, social, cultural, psychological and existential factors affecting it., Aim: This study aimed to explore the facilitators and barriers to self-management in men with COPD in the unique social, cultural, political and economic context of Iran., Methods: This paper reports part of the findings of a qualitative grounded theory study aimed at exploring the process of self-management in Iranian men with COPD, which was conducted in Iran from January 2019 to July 2023. Participants included men with COPD, their family members and pulmonologists. The selection of participants in this research began with the purposeful sampling method. Data was collected using semistructured interviews. Data collection continued until the data saturation was achieved. A total of 15 interviews were conducted with nine patients, three family members of patients and three pulmonologists. The data was analysed using the constant comparative analysis method., Results: The findings of this study showed that knowledge, education, experience, family involvement and financial support are the factors that facilitate self-management. Factors related to deficits include lack of education, lack of treatment support, family cooperation deficit, financial problems, medication obtaining problems and factors related to disease impacts include specific nature of the disease, residual effect, comorbidity and factors related to negative patients characteristics include false beliefs, poor self-efficacy, feeling shame and non-adherence are barriers to self-management in men with COPD., Conclusion: Based on results of this study, healthcare providers and health planners can strengthen the factors that facilitate self-management and weaken or remove the barriers to self-management, so that these patients use self-management strategies with maximum capacity to control the disease., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Building technological capabilities is influenced by different factors, notably policies. This paper explains the co-evolution of policies, i.e. policy tools, on the technological capabilities in Iran's biopharmaceutical sector from 1995 to 2022. By adopting a qualitative research method, we gathered primary data through thirty-nine semi-structured as well as secondary data from reports and statistics. This paper explains technological capabilities enhancement from operational capabilities to innovative capabilities based on our proposed framework, which includes six levels. While the lack of an efficient policy tools, until the mid-2000s, was decisive in the inertia of biopharmaceutical sector capabilities, a proactive policy tools in recent years led to considerable promising results in terms of manufacturing and exporting advanced biosimilar products. Our findings shed light on the role of government support in the acceleration and directionality of technological capabilities building. Achieving advanced levels of technological capabilities requires learning, international collaboration, and export-oriented policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the fact that research in areas related to "teacher experience" is in short supply, the purpose of the present study is to fill the gap in L2 teacher education through comparing two groups of teachers, namely inexperienced vs. experienced, to see whether differences between them in the course of communication strategies (CSs) could be attributed to differences of their teaching experience. The database is drawn from audio-recordings of 15 lessons from five teachers totaling 27 hours of naturally occurring data. The audio-recordings were transcribed and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. A single semi-structured interview was also conducted with each teacher to gain access to their opinions. The findings indicated that inexperienced teachers followed relatively the same pattern of CS use in their talk. Meanwhile, experienced teachers used the least number of CSs. These patterns can be regarded as a sign of transformation in teacher cognition over time based on the reasons discussed in the paper.

In the field of English Language Teaching (ELT), attention has been shifted toward the alternative role of teachers as transformative intellectuals whereby transformation in teaching occurs from control and technical operations to criticism and intellectual reflection. This role enables teachers to focus on marginalized students' lived experiences and worlds to transform them into active and critical citizens who are emancipated to develop their voices and question the status quo. Through critically examining the learning milieu that maintains injustice and inequality, students struggle to connect it to sociopolitical conditions in wider society, and eventually transform it to meet the desired ideologies and thinking. This paper attempts to scrutinize teachers' role as transformative intellectuals and their challenges through the transformation process. Thus, the researcher used purposive sampling to select 26 teachers in four private language institutes of Tehran, Shiraz, and Yazd, Iran to adopt the role of transformative intellectuals based on theoretical principles and concepts of critical pedagogy. Semi-structured interview and an online focus group were used to collect data. Data analysis disclosed transformations and benefits as well as the challenges resulting from teachers becoming transformative intellectuals. The fruitful findings of this study are insightful, since this study is an example to show how language teachers can create transformation in the EFL context, change their fossilized role, and empower oppressed students within the institutionalized and oppressive system of schooling.

Aim/Purpose: The research investigates the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on Iranian refugees' settlement in Australia. Background: The study identifies the issues of settlement, such as language, cultural and social differences. Methodology: The Multi-Sited Ethnography (MSE), which is a qualitative methodology, has been used with a thematic analysis drawing on a series of semi-structured interviews with two groups of participants (51 Iranian refugees and 55 people with a role in assisting refugees). Contribution: The research findings may enable the creation of a model for use by the Australian Government with Iranian refugees. Findings: The findings show the vital role ICT play in refugees' ongoing day-to-day life towards settlement. Recommendations for Practitioners: The results from this paper could be generalised to other groups of refugees in Australia and also could be used for Iranian refugees in other countries. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers may use a similar study for refugees of different backgrounds in Australia and around the world. Impact on Society: ICT may assist refugees to become less isolated, less marginalized and part of mainstream society. Future Research: Future research could look into the digital divide between refugees in Australia and main stream Australians.

Purpose: This research paper aims to delve into the perceptions of health susceptibility among Iranian, Afghan and Tajik individuals hailing from asylum-seeking or refused asylum-seeking backgrounds currently residing in Finland, Norway and Sweden. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted between May and October 2022 involving a sample size of 27 participants. An adapted framework based on the health belief model along with previous studies served as a guide for formulating interview questions. Findings: Notably influenced by cultural background, religious beliefs, psychological states and past traumatic experiences during migration journeys – before arrival in these countries till settling down – subjects' perception of health concerns emerged significantly shaped. Additionally impacting perspectives were social standing, occupational status, personal/family medical history, lifestyle choices and dietary preferences nurtured over time, leading to varying degrees of influence upon individuals' interpretation about their own wellness or illness. Practical implications: Insights garnered throughout the authors' analysis hold paramount significance when it comes to developing targeted strategies catering culturally sensitive health-care provisions, alongside framing policies better aligned with primary care services tailored explicitly around singular demands posed by these specific communities dwelling within respective territories. Originality/value: This investigation represents one among few pioneering initiatives assessing perceptions regarding both physical and mental well-being within minority groups under examination across Nordic nations, unveiling complexities arising through intersecting factors like individual attributes mingling intricately with socio-cultural environments, thereby forming unique viewpoints towards health-care belief systems prevalent among such population segments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to criticize liberal humanism based on Islam viewpoint emphasizing Motahri's point of view. In this paper, the researchers tried to identify liberalism humanism factors with analytical look in order to present a new categorization called "main factor of liberal humanism". Then, each factor was studied and criticized based on Motahari's thoughts. This research was done with qualitative research approach, thereby, liberal humanism has been criticized based on freedom, individualism, and rationality. Motahari's critics on studied factors suggest that existed differences arise from Islam and liberalism view and attitude toward human and nature; however, there is a relative agreement in the importance of factors within human education arenas. According to Motahari's point of view, freedom has a religious base and it is considerable under divine will, not natural human situation. As his point of view, emphasis on individualism along with society gentility is not negating each other and it seems that there is an agreement in support of rationality factor. However as Motahari points out, (as opposed to liberalism view), wisdom is not the only resource of achieving knowledge, but there are other resources such as revelation, intuition, narration, and sense as the resources of achieving knowledge in Islam, and he knows the contrast between wisdom and religion as a result of western condition and distorted Christianity. In addition, it can be said that training divine human is an ultimate goal of divine education system which has been emphasized on material and mundane goals in liberal humanism arena.

School-based sex education is an underdeveloped and challenging issue to address in Iran. This paper provides insights into the main challenges in developing and implementing school-based sex education in Iran. Through an investigation of one Iranian boys' school that, in contrast to the majority of Iranian educational institutions, has an established strategy for educating its pupils on sexual matters, it is possible to critically explore the underlying principles and practice of sex education in this institution. Given the sociocultural milieu provided by Iranian society and the problematic nature of childhood, adolescent and premarital sexualities within that society, developing and implementing school-based sex education programmes is a difficult endeavour. Premarital sexuality in Iran is unacceptable to such a great extent that many parents and schools, even when aware of the risks associated with poor sexual health knowledge, may choose not to approach sex education, since to do so may be to acknowledge premarital sexuality and, supposedly, lead to premarital sex. There is a need for evidence-based research to examine the different aspects of sex education for young Iranians and to demonstrate its importance and effectiveness.

This paper explores the impact of modernization and globalization on Iranians’ cultural and identity-based relationship with the environment, resulting in a loss of mental and semantic dimensions. This has led to environmental numbness and disregard for the natural world. The study argues that virtual education can complement holistic education and provide a platform for Iranians to learn about the mental and semantic aspects of their relationship with nature, thereby restoring their sense of connection to the natural world. The paper suggests that virtual education can help develop environmental awareness, critical thinking skills, and social responsibility while providing access to educational resources for individuals who may be geographically or socially isolated. Integrating virtual education into formal and non-formal education in Iran can play a critical role in promoting sustainable development, addressing environmental challenges, and preserving cultural identity. The study uses qualitative and descriptive research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the findings of a qualitative study on the strategies employed by Iranian freshmen in extensive listening. A group of 12 freshman university students were purposefully selected based on their scores in the Oxford Placement Test administered. Four learners were identified as advanced, four as intermediate, and four as lower intermediate. A semi-structured interview was then conducted from which six of them were identified for the think-aloud protocol to elicit the strategies they employed. The analysis of the interviewees' interview and think-aloud data generated six major themes. One theme--concentration/attention--described metacognitive strategies; three themes--visualization, note-taking, and inferencing by guessing and using cues and background noise--described cognitive strategies; and two themes--communicating and skipping--described additional strategies. The implication of the study is that these strategies used in extensive listening by English as a foreign language learners need to be explicitly taught and the learners also need to listen to their target language more and more to improve their listening skills by using more top-down strategies.

Background: Clinical trials play an important role in expanding the knowledge of diabetes prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, and data management is one of the main issues in clinical trials. Lack of appropriate planning for data management in clinical trials may negatively influence achieving the desired results. The aim of this study was to explore data management processes in diabetes clinical trials in three research institutes in Iran. Method: This was a qualitative study conducted in 2019. In this study, data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 researchers in three endocrinology and metabolism research institutes. To analyze data, the method of thematic analysis was used. Results: The five themes that emerged from data analysis included (1) clinical trial data collection, (2) technologies used in data management, (3) data security and confidentiality management, (4) data quality management, and (5) data management standards. In general, the findings indicated that no clear and standard process was used for data management in diabetes clinical trials, and each research center executed its own methods and processes. Conclusion: According to the results, the common methods of data management in diabetes clinical trials included a set of paper-based processes. It seems that using information technology can help facilitate data management processes in a variety of clinical trials, including diabetes clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capacity Development is needed in the Iranian Agricultural System. Integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the agricultural research system is an appropriate capacity development mechanism. The appropriate application of ICTs and information such as a National Agricultural Information System requires a systemically developed strategic plan, based on identifying and recognizing system-wide organizational implications. In this regard, this paper focuses on the implications of integrating ICTs in the Iranian agricultural research system. To this aim, the authors conducted a survey research study using qualitative analysis of interview data from a select sample of agricultural researchers and agricultural faculty members. After designing an interview protocol and doing interviews with the select sample of agricultural researchers and faculty members (n = 29), a qualitative procedure was used to analyze the data, based on conceptual extraction and thematic categorization of statements. Categories included guidelines, expected outcomes, challenges and barriers of appropriate ICTs integration in the Iranian agricultural research system. In addition, different phases of the ICTs integration process were identified in the form of a pathway diagram. Finally, based on related Iranian lessons learned, which are explained in this research, some appropriate mechanisms for integrating ICTs in national agricultural research system were indicated. (Contains 2 figures.)

Widespread public vaccination is one of the effective mechanisms to ensure the health and prevent deaths in societies. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine is a stark instance in this regard. Vaccine development is a complex process requiring firm-level capabilities, various infrastructures, long-term planning, and stable and efficient policies. Due to the global demand for vaccines during the pandemic, the national capability to produce vaccines is critical. To this end, the current paper investigates influential factors, at the firm- and policylevel, in the COVID-19 vaccine development process in Iran. By adopting a qualitative research method and conducting 17 semi-structured interviews and analyzing policy documents, news, and reports, we extracted internal and external factors affecting the success and failure of a vaccine development project. We also discuss the characteristics of the vaccine ecosystem and the gradual maturity of policies. This paper draws lessons for vaccine development in developing countries at both firm and policy levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Ambiguity arises when more than one meaning and concept can be understood from a word, phrase or sentence. Since it seems necessary to understand this by the information retrieval system in order to increase the accuracy of the information retrieval system and increase the retrieval of related resources, the present research aims to identify the ambiguous and disambiguating factors through a systematic review of studies. It has been done in Iran. Methodology: The research method is applied in terms of purpose, in terms of approach, qualitative and in terms of information gathering method, systematic review using PRISMA standard. The statistical population includes journal articles, conferences, and dissertations indexed in Iranian databases, including: Magiran, Noormags, Shiraz Regional Center for Science and Technology, Civilica, and Academic Jihad Center (SID) and Scientific Information of Iran (treasure). 175 scientific sources and 138 scientific sources were excluded based on the output criteria and 37 scientific sources were selected based on the input criteria. Input criteria: focusing on the studies conducted on the subject of ambiguity and disambiguation, in the fields of linguistics, information technology, artificial intelligence, computer and information science, and epistemology, scientific sources published in Persian language, without publication time limits, review articles, Scientific research, master's and doctorate theses and national and international conference papers held inside Iran. Output criteria: studies carried out except for ambiguity and disambiguation, non-Persian language scientific sources, books, reports, editorials, abstract writings and short articles (less than 5 pages). Findings: The results show that the main topic of interest in this research was "ambiguity of the meaning of words" (53%) and "disambiguation of words" (44%) and the least topics of ambiguity in machine translation (21%) and disambiguation through ontology (5 percent). The most research methods with the "neural network" approach (22 percent) and the least research methods used were content analysis, methodology and machine learning (5 percent), the largest number of sources related to the articles of conferences and national conferences and was international (48 percent) and the least were master theses and doctoral dissertations (5 percent). Computer and linguistics fields (27 percent) have had the most scientific productions in this regard, and information science and epistemology fields (9 percent) have had the lowest productions. Conclusion: The present research is considered innovative in the sense that it deals with the issue of ambiguity and disambiguation in information retrieval with a systematic review approach. Its findings indicate that most Iranian researches were focused on disambiguation, which were mostly presented in national and international conferences and meetings. The topic of ambiguity and disambiguation is more important in the fields of computer science and linguistics, and the fields of information science and epistemology have not dealt with it. The semantic ambiguity of words and, by nature, the disambiguation of words has been the concern of format in Iranian researches. Ontology as a new approach to disambiguation has received less attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates attitudes towards death and the social factors that influence them among a sample of residents in Tehran, Iran. Using grounded theory and anchoring our analysis in the meaning of death (what people think happens after death), we were able to conceptualise three broad worldviews on death, which were then further refined into nine attitudes. Our research highlights socio-economic status as a factor potentially shaping people's attitudes towards death. A large group of our respondents, mainly among less affluent groups, think about death daily, while many among the more affluent and the educated middle class prefer to avoid thoughts of death. Our study in a Muslim majority setting in the Middle East contributes to the existing literature on attitudes towards death by going beyond simple typologies, such as western versus eastern, traditional versus modern, religious versus secular, denial versus acceptance, to show that the diversity of attitudes towards death can both incorporate and transcend all of these dichotomies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study aimed to explore Iranian women's life stories living with compulsive sexual behaviour. Data were collected between 2014 and 2016 in two cities. Forty‐four semi‐structured interviews were conducted by using theoretical sampling and constant comparative analysis. Four thematic categories were constructed from the data, including "scars left on the spirit and mind,"; "bizarre beliefs regarding sexuality and gender,"; "compensation for emptiness and the loss,"; and "difficulty in emotional regulation." This paper shows how abusive patterns of relationships in childhood could lead to sexual compulsivity. The paper results can direct our attention to the importance of health and social care and training to recognise abusive situations and support these children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]