Exploring Iranian individual’s perception toward divorce after disability related to spinal cord injury

Abstract

Study design: An exploratory qualitative research. Objectives: To understand how Iranian individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) perceive post-SCI divorce. Setting: Protection Center of Spinal Cord Disables. Participants: Post-SCI divorcees who were 18 years and older. Methods: The participants were 20 individuals with SCI (9 men and 11 women) who were willing to share their experiences through interviews. They had been referred to the ‘Protection Center of Spinal Cord Disables’. The data were collected through ten semi-structured individual in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions. Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis approach was applied to extract the meanings informants used to conceptualize the concept of marriage. Results: Post-SCI divorce was conceptualized in terms of ‘contextual scenarios’. We explored the scenarios related to post-SCI divorce in terms of predisposing scenarios and identified them as ground-breaking stories for constructing a decision process for post-SCI divorce. We also determined efforts that had been made to maintain marital stability. Conclusions: Based on our participants’ perceptions, post-SCI divorce was affected by their understanding of scenarios resulting in post-SCI divorce and their struggles to stay married.