Experiences of silent suffering on chemical injured of Iran-Iraq war: A phenomenological study

Abstract

Aims The use of chemical weapons by Iraq against Iran leads to the death of thousands of civilians, and it left hundreds of thousands of wounded and chemical injured that most of them still suffer from its side effects and to show themselves a strong man, they suppress their physical and mental symptoms. This study aimed to explore the experiences of the silent suffering on the chemical injured of the Iran-Iraq war. Participants & Methods This qualitative research was conducted in 2019 on 16 chemical casualties in Amir Al-Momenin Hospital, Isfahan, Iran. 16 chemical injured that had the login characteristics of the study were selected by purposeful sampling method and for data collection of deep unstructured interviews. The interviews were analyzed by the Colaizzi method. Findings Generally from 16 interviews, 345 primary codes, 28 primary concepts, one sub-themes of 5 main themes of ideals, gradual disintegration, and blame were extracted. Conclusion Experiences of participants show the experience of silent suffering of war. Physical, psychological, and spiritual support in these victims is one of the important factors reducing their silent suffering. Copyright © 2021, the Authors.