The consequences of the outbreak of COVID-19 in Iran: A qualitative study from the perspective of key informants

Background: COVID-19 has posed various challenges to Iranian society and affected all aspects of Iranians' lives, which requires examination. Given that no research has been conducted in this area so far, this research was conducted with the aim of explaining the consequences of the spread of COVID-19 in Iran from the perspective of key informants with a qualitative approach. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted with a conventional content analysis approach among 45 key informants with various specialties throughout Iran. Participants were selected through purposeful and snowball sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured inperson and online interviews. Data analysis was done by the Graneheim and Lundman method, and Guba and Lincoln criteria were followed for the trustworthiness of the research. Results: 400 codes, 24 subcategories, and 5 categories were obtained from the data analysis. The categories include lifestyle changes, environmental changes, health and medical changes, social changes, and educational and work changes. Conclusion: The results have shown that COVID-19 has affected all aspects of human life in Iran and has had consequences such as changes in lifestyle, environmental changes, changes in health and medical practices, social and cultural changes, and educational and occupational transformations. Therefore, intervention to reduce the negative consequences of COVID-19 requires intervention at individual, family, social, cultural, and environmental levels, as well as the cooperation of specialists in various fields and disciplines.