6 STRENGTHS and LIMITATIONS
As far as we know, this is the first qualitative study in Iran that
focused on occupational stress among HCWs working in primary health care
centers.
On the other hand, the samples were heterogeneous because the HCWs were
from different cities and health centers. Finally, by considering
different points of view, comprehensive findings were obtained. This is
a strong point for this study.
Another strength is that the individual interviews in this study were
conducted before the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, and the focus
groups were conducted at the same time as the outbreak of the disease.
Therefore, the findings of one of the most sensitive job conditions of
HCWs were included in our study.
However, several limitations should be considered in this study. Since,
in the primary health care system of Iran, HCWs are mostly women, there
was a limitation for this study, that the participating HCWs were all
women. Therefore, findings related to gender differences in the
perception of workplace stress may not be observed in our study. In
addition, the findings of this study are based on the structure of
Iran’s health system, some of our findings may not be meaningful in
other countries.