Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb 19;21(1):75.
doi: 10.1186/s12905-021-01221-8.

"It was like nobody cared about what I said?" Iranian women committed self-immolation: a qualitative study

Nader Aghakhani  1 , Violeta Lopez  2   3 , Naser Parizad  1 , Rahim Baghaei  4
Affiliations

"It was like nobody cared about what I said?" Iranian women committed self-immolation: a qualitative study

Nader Aghakhani et al. BMC Womens Health. .

Abstract

Background: Suicide-attempts have increased across the world and have become higher among females. There has been a high prevalence of self-immolation in Iran, mostly young married women admitted to the burn centers. This study aimed to explore the factors and experiences of self-immolation in Iranian married women to develop prevention strategies to prevent the personal, social, and economic impacts of suicide and suicide attempts.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive approach using open-ended, in-depth, face-to-face interviews was conducted in a purposive sample of 16 married Iranian women aged 16-40 years in the burn centers in Urmia city, a place in northwest Iran. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze the data.

Results: Three themes emerged from the data, including (1) antecedents of self-immolation, (2) suicidal ideation method, and (3) pathway to recovery. Each of these themes is supported by sub-themes.

Conclusions: The study highlights the demand for health professionals to support self-immolation survivors to continue their normal lives. According to survivors' needs, a comprehensive supportive program is recommended to support their pathways to recovery in all its complexities. Health professionals should also not forget that the survivors' family also will need help to overcome this trauma. A family counseling program may also be provided.

Keywords: Iran; Qualitative; Self-immolation; Survivors; Women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors (NA, VL, NP, RB) declare that they have no competing interests.

Comment in

References

    1. World Health Organization. Suicide in the world: global health estimates. 2019. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/326948/WHO-MSD-MER-19.3.... Accessed 15 Dec 2020.
    1. Värnik A, Wasserman D. Suicides in the former Soviet republics. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1992;86(1):76–78. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1992.tb03230.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hassanian-Moghaddam H, Zamani N. Suicide in Iran: the facts and the figures from nationwide reports. Iran J Psych. 2017;12(1):73–77. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ghoreyshi S, Mousavinasab S. Systematic review of researches on suicide and suicide attempt in Iran. Iran J Psych Clin Psychol. 2008;14(2):115–121.
    1. Turecki G, Brent DA. Suicide and suicidal behaviour. The Lancet. 2016;387(10024):1227–1239. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00234-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources