Impact of social and cultural factors on incidence, transmission and control of Coronavirus disease in Iran: a qualitative study

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 pandemic has had mixed reactions from nations, people and governments about ways to cope with, prevent and control the disease. The current study identifies social, cultural and policy factors affecting the incidence and control of Coronavirus disease in Iran. METHODS: A qualitative study consists of content analysis as well as the views of 20 experienced and knowledgeable subjects specialized in social and cultural health management. The data were gathered using three semi-structured interviews and then continued by 17 semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was done using Graneheim approach. After each interview, the recorded audio files transcript and reviewed. Then codes extracted and divided to categories and sub-categories. RESULTS: There are distinct social and cultural factors in coping with Coronavirus disease. These consisted of three categories of governance, individual and community related factors. A total of 17 subcategories and 215 primary codes that were extracted from the text of interviews as variables of the study and in relation to the research question. Ten subdomains of governance including vaccination, political issues, knowledge, support services, administrative services, transportation, health and treatment, culturalization, legislation and, managerial and financial policies impacted the spread and mitigation of the pandemic at various levels. CONCLUSION: The management of pandemics requires a comprehensive capacity for identifying and determining social and cultural criteria. A healthy partnership between governments and the community may be required to remove unnecessary obstacles that hinder public health attempt to alleviate the risk. The obtained criteria and indicators from this study may be utilized by policy makers in an attempt to strengthen protocols for mitigating pandemics. Further studies may be warranted to confirm these findings. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-14805-2.