Determining Dimensions of Iranians’ Individual Social Health: A Qualitative Approach

BACKGROUND: Social health is important to be assessed as a dimension of health. The aim of study was to determine domains and sub-domains of individual social health of Iranians. METHODS: This study was carried out with a qualitative approach, using thematic content analysis. Twenty five experts participated in interviews, using individual semi-structured interviews between November 2010 and June 2011.This data supported with strong search. RESULTS: Two main areas extracted from these interviews including social support and social function. The social support domain contained seventeen sub-areas, including social support at the time of disease; disability; daily life issues, etc. And the social function as second domain contained twelve sub-areas, including: financial aids to others; emotionally aids to others; participating in social groups, etc. CONCLUSION: We developed a conceptual framework for social health in the individual level in Iranian population. It makes preparations for providing a valid and reliable measurement scale for social health in next studies and evidence-based policy-making.