Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Master's degree, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran
2 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran.
3 Associate Professor, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ardakan University, Ardakan, Iran.
Abstract
All segments of society need self-care, but among the segments of society, self-care is more difficult for women with a spouse with a spinal cord injury due to the many problems they have; this study was conducted to explore the lived experience of self-care in these women. The present applied research was of a qualitative phenomenological type. The population of participants in this study were all women who were the primary caregivers of their spouses with a spinal cord injury. The selection of participants was carried out using the snowball method until data saturation, and finally, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 people. The Claise method was used to analyse the data. The qualitative data analysis of this study led to the identification of 3 main themes, 11 sub-themes, and 90 primary concepts. The main themes included: "self-care focused on oneself," "self-care focused on home, spouse, and family," and "self-care focused on the environment." The findings of this study showed that self-care in women with spouses with spinal cord injury is a multidimensional and important phenomenon, and understanding these experiences can be the basis for designing specialised and community-based support interventions so that, in addition to supporting the person with spinal cord injury, the mental and physical health of their caregivers is also seriously considered.
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