Hajj Findings: Qualitative Sun Protection Research

According to the PLoS One study on sun protection during Hajj, researchers interviewed 29 people after the 2025 Hajj season and identified five themes explaining why UV protection was understood inconsistently and used unevenly.

The study shows that qualitative interview analysis can distinguish heat-related illness from UV-related harm, identify culturally specific meanings attached to sun exposure, and expose barriers involving language, cost, availability, comfort, and clothing.

• The researchers interviewed 16 Saudi pilgrims and 13 registered nurses through Zoom between June 20 and July 11, 2025, approximately one month after Hajj.
• The 2026 PLoS One study identified five major themes: physical and emotional effects, limited awareness, cultural influences, barriers to protection, and recommendations for improvement.
• The study reported that participants often understood sun exposure primarily as a heat problem, while concepts such as ultraviolet protection factor, or UPF, and the UV Index were poorly understood.
• The researchers reported that 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.
• The study recommends multilingual pre-Hajj education, affordable protective products, and culturally appropriate messages that distinguish heat prevention from UV protection.

The 2026 PLoS One study examined awareness, attitudes, and behaviors related to sunscreen, UPF-rated clothing, umbrellas, and other sun-protection measures during Hajj.

The researchers conducted retrospective semi-structured interviews via Zoom from June 20 to July 11, 2025, and analyzed the transcripts using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis approach.

The study included 16 Saudi pilgrims and 13 registered nurses who had worked in hospitals in Makkah and Madinah during Hajj. The researchers interviewed pilgrims and nurses separately because the groups were expected to provide different perspectives on personal behavior, health education, and institutional barriers.

The researchers transcribed interviews in Arabic or English, translated Arabic transcripts into English, and independently audited a random 20% sample of translated transcripts against the original Arabic recordings. The study also used member checking, investigator triangulation, peer debriefing, and audit trails to support trustworthiness.

The study has important limits. The sample included Saudi pilgrims from one Hajj season, interviews captured recalled rather than directly observed behavior, and qualitative findings should not be treated as statistically representative of the broader international Hajj population.

The Hajj findings suggest that effective interventions must address meaning, context, and usability rather than simply provide more information.

According to the 2026 PLoS One study, many participants described exhaustion, dizziness, dehydration, and fainting as consequences of sun exposure, but rarely described UV-specific effects such as sunburn or eye irritation. The distinction matters because hydration, rest, and cooling primarily address heat-related illness, while sunscreen and UPF-rated clothing or umbrellas address UV exposure.

According to the study, some older pilgrims interpreted enduring heat as part of the spiritual challenge of Hajj, while other participants described umbrella use as increasingly accepted. Qualitative analysis therefore revealed both a cultural barrier and a potential route for culturally responsive behavior change.

According to the interviewed nurses, language differences complicated health education for multinational pilgrims, while participants also cited forgotten equipment, heavy umbrellas, product cost, limited availability, and clothing constraints. These findings show why intervention design should combine message testing with journey mapping and cross-segment analysis.

The study’s recommendations provide testable hypotheses rather than validated interventions. Public health teams could use follow-up interviews, multilingual concept testing, and behavioral observation to assess whether pre-travel education, official Hajj kits, or accessible distribution points improve protection practices.

Health researchers should treat the study as non-diagnostic, research-focused evidence about reported experiences and perceptions, not as a clinical assessment of individual participants.

The 2026 PLoS One study demonstrates how qualitative sun protection research can uncover the reasons behind incomplete or inconsistent preventive behavior. Its 29 interviews show that effective Hajj health communication must distinguish heat from UV risk and address culture, language, access, cost, and comfort together.

AI-enabled qualitative analysis can help research teams process multilingual interviews, compare participant segments, trace themes to evidence, and identify questions for follow-up research more efficiently. Human researchers must remain responsible for interpretation, reflexivity, ethics, and contextual validation.

Teams studying health behavior, user experience, or public health communication can explore Evidano’s qualitative research features and try Evidano for free.