IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v383y2025ics0277953625006719.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Excruciating pain, enduring suffering, and searing burns: The culture of care in burn units of hospital in Iran

Author

Listed:
  • Saadatmehr, Reza
  • Vedadhir, Abouali
  • Sanagoo, Akram
  • Jouybari, Leila

Abstract

Burn injuries are among the significant threats to population health, with distinct characteristics, and caring for these injuries is of paramount importance. Along with the painful sensations, burns bring about profound grief and enduring suffering that encompass not only patients but also their families and communities. This ethnographic study, conducted in 2021–2022 focused on the pain and suffering resulting from burns and their management in the Iranian context. The primary objective of this ethnography is to explore cultural meanings and experiences of 32 nurses, 13 patients, and 3 physicians using various methods, including observation, fieldnotes, 48 ethnographic interviews, and informal conversations (overall, 356 hours). Inspired by Arthur Kleinman's approach to care and illness, we discuss the potential for "being" based on ethnographic findings from a referral burn center in Iran. This allows us to understand the human experience and its existence within an embedded context, providing a structured direction towards the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Saadatmehr, Reza & Vedadhir, Abouali & Sanagoo, Akram & Jouybari, Leila, 2025. "Excruciating pain, enduring suffering, and searing burns: The culture of care in burn units of hospital in Iran," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 383(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:383:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625006719
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118340
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625006719
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118340?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:383:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625006719. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.