Hajj health researchers and public health teams need to understand why people recognize environmental risks yet do not always adopt protective behaviors. Hajj sun protection research provides a clear example: interviews can reveal how knowledge gaps, cultural beliefs, language barriers, product access, and physical discomfort shape behavior. This article examines a November 2026 PLOS ONE study and refracts its findings through the lens of AI-enabled qualitative research. The goal is practical: show how research teams can move from multilingual interview transcripts to defensible themes, segment comparisons, and intervention priorities without losing participant context. The discussion is research-focused and non-diagnostic.
Key Takeaways
The November 2026 PLOS ONE study found that Hajj pilgrims and nurses understood sun exposure mainly as a heat problem, while knowledge of ultraviolet radiation, UPF-rated products, and the UV Index remained limited. The study identified five themes that can guide culturally responsive sun-safety education and demonstrate the value of structured qualitative analysis.
- According to the PLOS ONE study, researchers interviewed 29 people, including 16 Saudi pilgrims and 13 registered nurses, between June 20 and July 11, 2025.
- According to the PLOS ONE study, thematic analysis produced five themes: physical and emotional effects, awareness gaps, cultural influences, barriers, and recommendations.
- According to the PLOS ONE study, interview saturation was reached after 16 pilgrim interviews and 13 nurse interviews, with the final two to three interviews in each group producing no new codes.
- According to the PLOS ONE study, participants described dehydration, dizziness, exhaustion, and fainting more readily than UV-specific effects such as sunburn or eye irritation.
- According to the PLOS ONE study, participants recommended structured pre-Hajj education, multilingual communication, affordable protective products, and culturally appropriate clothing.
How the Hajj Sun Protection Research Was Conducted
The PLOS ONE study used a qualitative descriptive design based on retrospective semi-structured interviews conducted through Zoom from June 20 to July 11, 2025, approximately one month after the 2025 Hajj season.
According to the PLOS ONE study, the research team interviewed 16 Saudi pilgrims and 13 registered nurses who had worked in hospitals in Makkah and Madinah. Interviews lasted approximately 30 to 45 minutes, and Arabic interviews were translated into English with an independent audit of 20% of translated transcripts.
The PLOS ONE study analyzed transcripts in NVivo 12.6 and followed Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis process. Three researchers independently coded an initial 20% sample, developed a shared codebook, and resolved discrepancies through team discussion.
The PLOS ONE study reported that the interview data were retrospective and self-reported rather than directly observed. The study also noted that the pilgrim sample included one nationality and one Hajj season, which limits transferability to the wider international pilgrim population.
Hajj Sun Protection Research: Findings Snapshot
| Date or measure | Finding reported by the PLOS ONE study | Implication for qualitative researchers |
|---|---|---|
| June 20 to July 11, 2025 | The PLOS ONE study conducted post-Hajj Zoom interviews during this period. | A short recall window can preserve recent experiences, but researchers should still document recall limitations. |
| 29 participants | The PLOS ONE study included 16 pilgrims and 13 registered nurses. | Separate participant groups support cross-segment comparison. |
| Five themes | The PLOS ONE study identified physical and emotional impact, knowledge gaps, cultural influences, barriers, and recommendations. | A hierarchical code structure can connect broad themes with actionable subthemes. |
| 20% translation audit | The PLOS ONE study independently checked a random 20% sample of translated transcripts against the original Arabic recordings. | Multilingual AI analysis should retain source-language context and support human quality checks. |
| November 11, 2026 | The PLOS ONE article was published on this date. | Clear publication dates help research teams distinguish evidence from later interpretation. |
What the Findings Mean for Health and UX Researchers
The PLOS ONE findings suggest that effective Hajj sun-safety interventions must separate heat-related illness from UV-related harm. Participants associated sun exposure with exhaustion, dehydration, dizziness, and fainting, while specialized concepts such as UPF and the UV Index were unfamiliar to many interviewees.
The PLOS ONE study reported that cultural and religious interpretations shaped behavior, with some participants viewing endurance of heat as part of spiritual hardship. The same study also reported growing acceptance of umbrellas, showing that cultural norms can change rather than functioning only as fixed barriers.
The PLOS ONE study identified language differences, forgotten or uncomfortable equipment, product cost, limited availability, and clothing constraints as barriers. Researchers should therefore analyze not only stated attitudes, but also the practical conditions that determine whether an intended behavior is feasible.
For health communication teams, the PLOS ONE recommendations point toward multilingual, visual, pre-travel education delivered before pilgrims arrive. For UX researchers, the findings create testable design questions about product weight, distribution points, labeling, garment breathability, and culturally appropriate messaging.
How Evidano Supports AI Qualitative Analysis of Hajj Interviews
Problem: Multilingual interviews can hide meaning during translation
Evidano is an AI-powered qualitative data analysis platform that helps researchers analyze interview transcripts, open-ended survey responses, and research documents.
Evidano supports transcription, translation, custom dictionaries, and PII redaction, which can help teams organize Arabic and English interview material while preserving terminology that matters to the study context. Researchers can review the resulting text against the original material before final interpretation.
For multilingual Hajj research, teams can use Evidano’s translation tools to create a consistent analysis set and then check whether culturally specific terms, religious references, and product names retain their intended meaning.
Problem: Manual coding slows thematic synthesis
Evidano generates thematic, content, frequency, and cross-segment analyses from qualitative datasets. These capabilities can help researchers examine whether themes such as knowledge gaps or access barriers appear differently in pilgrim and nurse interviews.
Evidano can organize broad themes into codes and subcodes, helping teams move from participant statements to a structured framework similar to the five-theme structure reported by the PLOS ONE study.
Researchers can use Evidano’s qualitative research features to accelerate first-pass synthesis while retaining human review for interpretation, reflexivity, and methodological decisions.
Problem: Evidence is difficult to interrogate across documents and segments
Evidano provides AI chat over uploaded documents and analyses, allowing researchers to ask focused questions about participant groups, barriers, recommendations, and supporting quotations.
A research team could compare pilgrim and nurse accounts, locate statements about UPF awareness, or test whether language barriers are described as individual or institutional problems. Researchers should verify every generated answer against the underlying transcript and study protocol.
Problem: Research teams need traceable outputs, not only summaries
Evidano provides visualizations such as word clouds, co-occurrence networks, and hierarchical code-to-subcode views that can make relationships in qualitative data easier to inspect.
Evidano states that customer data is encrypted and never used to train third-party models. Teams working with sensitive interview material can review the platform’s data security information before uploading research files.
FAQ: Hajj Sun Protection Research and AI Qualitative Analysis
What did the 2026 Hajj sun protection study find?
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The 2026 PLOS ONE study found five major themes concerning sun exposure during Hajj: physical and emotional effects, limited awareness, cultural influences, barriers, and recommendations.
The study reported that participants often understood sun exposure as a heat risk rather than a distinct UV risk, and that UPF-rated products were poorly understood.
How many people took part in the Hajj sun protection interviews?
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The PLOS ONE study interviewed 29 participants between June 20 and July 11, 2025.
The sample included 16 Saudi pilgrims and 13 registered nurses, with saturation assessed separately for each group.
Why is thematic analysis useful for Hajj health research?
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Thematic analysis is useful because it organizes complex interview accounts into recurring patterns while allowing culturally specific issues to emerge.
The PLOS ONE researchers used an inductive thematic approach, which enabled themes such as spiritual reframing of hardship and clothing constraints to emerge from the interviews.
How can AI help analyze qualitative health interviews?
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AI can help qualitative researchers transcribe, translate, code, compare, search, and visualize large collections of interview data more efficiently.
AI does not replace methodological judgment: researchers must review quotations, assess translation quality, document analytical decisions, and consider study limitations.
Can AI qualitative analysis preserve cultural context?
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AI qualitative analysis can support cultural-context review when researchers use custom dictionaries, retain source-language material, compare participant segments, and validate outputs against transcripts.
The PLOS ONE study’s 20% translation audit illustrates why human quality checks remain important when qualitative data crosses languages.
Conclusion and Next Steps for Hajj Sun Protection Research
The November 2026 PLOS ONE study shows how qualitative interviews can reveal the difference between recognizing heat exposure and understanding UV-related harm. The study’s 29 interviews produced five themes that connect knowledge, culture, communication, access, and intervention design.
AI-enabled qualitative research can help health teams examine these dimensions across multilingual transcripts and participant groups, provided that researchers preserve source context and validate generated findings. Evidano supports this workflow with transcription, translation, thematic analysis, cross-segment analysis, document chat, and qualitative visualizations.
Researchers can turn complex interview material into clearer evidence for education programs, product design, and public health planning. Try Evidano for free to analyze qualitative research data more efficiently.
Topics
- Hajj sun protection research
- AI qualitative analysis
- qualitative analysis of health interviews
- thematic analysis of interviews
- UV protection awareness research
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