A Qualitative analysis of the Constraints of women's social vitality in Kerman

Background and Objective: Social vitality is one of the basic and fundamental features of social life that has a great contribution in improving the mental health of people in society and the relationships between them.Although much research has been doneon social vitality, little research has been done on the constraints of women’s social vitality. The main purpose of this study is to qualitatively analyze the constraints of women’s social vitality in Kerman. Materials and Methods: The present study is qualitative research in the form of an interpretive and constructivist paradigm. Its data were collected through focused group interviews. Three groups of 10-12 people (33 people in total) of women aged 20 and employed in Kerman were selected and studied using purposive sampling method with maximum diversity. Thematic analysis approach has been used to analyze the data. Results: Based on the thematic analysis, two main themes were extracted, which were social factors that include three sub-themes: family (strictness, restrictions and gender discrimination), work environment (excessive control by the employer and the governing system of organizations, tangible and intangible control, social stigma, constraints on dress and grooming) and society (existence of specific beliefs, constraints related to mobility, constraints on certain activities for women, ignoring the role of men in creating insecurity in society, Lack of power to express appropriate response to the constraints imposed) and individual factors that included two sub-themes of external dimension (lifestyle) and internal dimension (attitude and insight, lack of self-esteem). Conclusion: The results showed that the studied women face obstacles and constraints in their social vitality. These constraints were mainly a set of social and individual factors such as gender discrimination, social stigma, lack of security in public space, the existence of certain beliefs and finally the lifestyle that disrupted their social vitality.