Qualitative sun protection research helps public health teams understand why people do or do not adopt protective behaviors. The audience for this analysis includes health researchers, Hajj planners, nurses, and policy teams who need to translate interview evidence into culturally appropriate interventions. A November 2026 study in PLoS One examined sun protection awareness among pilgrims and nurses after the 2025 Hajj, revealing that participants often understood sun exposure as a heat problem rather than a separate ultraviolet radiation risk. This article explains the study's findings, shows how researchers built trustworthy themes from interviews, and demonstrates how AI-enabled qualitative research can accelerate synthesis without replacing methodological judgment.
Key Takeaways
According to the PLoS One study published on November 11, 2026, qualitative interviews with 29 people identified major gaps in awareness and use of UV and UPF protection during Hajj. The study found that effective interventions should distinguish heat-related illness from UV-related harm and use multilingual, culturally appropriate education.
- According to the 2026 PLoS One study, researchers interviewed 16 Saudi pilgrims and 13 registered nurses between June 20 and July 11, 2025.
- According to the study's results, five major themes covered physical and emotional effects, knowledge gaps, cultural influences, practical barriers, and recommendations.
- According to the study, participants often described exhaustion, dizziness, dehydration, and fainting as heat problems, while UV-specific risks such as sunburn and eye damage received less attention.
- According to the study, participants had limited familiarity with UPF-rated clothing, UV-protective umbrellas, and the UV Index.
- According to the study, participants recommended pre-Hajj education, wider access to affordable protective products, and communication in pilgrims' native languages.
What the Hajj Sun Protection Study Found
The 2026 PLoS One study found that pilgrims and nurses recognized intense sun exposure as a serious challenge but did not consistently understand the difference between heat protection and UV protection. The researchers conducted retrospective, semi-structured interviews through Zoom within approximately one month of the 2025 Hajj season.
According to the study, the research team used purposive sampling, interviewed all participants once for approximately 30 to 45 minutes, and analyzed transcripts through Braun and Clarke's six-phase thematic analysis approach. Three researchers independently coded an initial 20% sample, and the team resolved coding differences through consensus.
According to the study, thematic saturation was assessed separately for pilgrims and nurses and was reached after 16 pilgrim interviews and 13 nurse interviews. The researchers also used member checking, translation audits, reflexive journaling, peer debriefing, and Lincoln and Guba's trustworthiness criteria.
One pilgrim told the researchers, "Everyone knows the sun is harmful, but I don’t think we understand how exactly." A nurse described the terminology gap directly: "Honestly, I have no knowledge about UV-protection products."
The study found that cultural interpretations also shaped behavior. One nurse explained, "Some elderly pilgrims believe enduring the sun is part of the spiritual challenge; they think the harder it is, the greater the reward." The researchers reported that umbrella use had nevertheless become more socially accepted than in the past.
Hajj Sun Protection Findings Snapshot
| Date or study detail | Metric | Value | Implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 20 to July 11, 2025 | Interview period | 29 interviews | The PLoS One study captured recalled experiences soon after the 2025 Hajj. |
| 2025 Hajj study | Pilgrim participants | 16 Saudi pilgrims | The pilgrim findings provide a focused cultural baseline, not a representation of all international pilgrims. |
| 2025 Hajj study | Nurse participants | 13 registered nurses | The nurse interviews added professional perspectives on education, communication, and care barriers. |
| 2026 publication | Major themes | 5 themes | The thematic structure connected personal experiences with cultural and systemic barriers. |
| 2025 data collection | Interview length | Approximately 30 to 45 minutes | The format supported detailed accounts while remaining feasible for retrospective remote interviewing. |
| 2025 analysis | Translation audit | 20% of translated transcripts | The audit helped check conceptual and semantic equivalence between Arabic and English data. |
| Earlier evidence cited by the study | Pilgrims not using umbrellas in direct sunlight | 26.9% | The cited cross-sectional evidence indicates a measurable gap between sun exposure risk and protective behavior. |
Implications for Public Health and Qualitative Researchers
The 2026 PLoS One study suggests that Hajj health communication should treat heat and UV radiation as related but distinct risks. According to the study, hydration, rest, and cooling address heat-related illness, while sunscreen and UPF-rated clothing or umbrellas address UV exposure; shade can contribute to protection from both risks.
Public health teams should design multilingual, visual, and culturally responsive education before pilgrims travel. The study reported that nurses struggled with language differences, while participants also described cost, product availability, physical discomfort, forgetfulness, and clothing requirements as barriers.
Qualitative researchers should preserve the distinction between what participants experienced and what researchers infer. The study's participants mainly described heat-related symptoms, so researchers should not convert those accounts into claims about measured UV injury without additional evidence.
The study also demonstrates why coding workflows need transparency. Researchers combined independent coding, consensus discussions, translation checks, member checking, and audit trails rather than treating automated theme generation as a substitute for interpretation.
For health researchers, the central decision is not simply whether participants know about sunscreen or umbrellas. The central decision is which educational message, delivery channel, product design, language, and cultural framing can reduce the gap between intention and behavior.
How Evidano Helps With AI Qualitative Research Analysis
Problem: Researchers must synthesize many interview transcripts consistently
Evidano is an AI-powered qualitative data analysis platform that helps researchers analyze interviews, open-ended surveys, and documents.
Evidano can support thematic, content, frequency, and cross-segment analysis across interview transcripts and related research materials. Researchers can use the results to compare pilgrim and nurse perspectives while retaining human oversight of codes and interpretations.
Teams can review the platform's relevant capabilities on the Evidano features page.
Problem: Multilingual interviews can introduce translation risk
The PLoS One study included Arabic interviews, one English-language nurse interview, English translations, and an audit of 20% of translated transcripts. Evidano supports transcription and translation workflows with custom dictionaries, which can help teams standardize specialized terms such as UV, UPF, SPF, and Hajj-specific vocabulary.
Researchers should still validate translated meaning, culturally specific phrasing, and quotations with qualified bilingual reviewers.
Problem: Findings must be traceable across themes and participant groups
Evidano can organize codes and subcodes, generate frequency views, and support cross-segment analysis. A research team could compare how pilgrims discuss cost and comfort with how nurses discuss language barriers and institutional preparedness.
An AI chat interface over documents and analyses can help researchers ask focused follow-up questions, such as which quotations support a theme or which barriers appear in both participant groups.
Problem: Sensitive health interviews require strong data governance
The PLoS One researchers did not publicly release interview data because of participant sensitivity and confidentiality agreements. Evidano states that data is encrypted and is never used to train third-party models; teams can review the platform's data security information before uploading research materials.
AI-generated themes should remain part of a documented research process that includes privacy protection, human review, and appropriate consent.
FAQ: Qualitative Sun Protection Research
What did the qualitative Hajj sun protection study investigate?
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The study investigated how Hajj pilgrims and nurses understood, experienced, and used sun protection, including sunscreen, UPF-rated clothing, and umbrellas.
According to the November 2026 PLoS One publication, the research used interviews with 16 Saudi pilgrims and 13 registered nurses who had participated in the 2025 Hajj season.
What were the main themes in the Hajj interview research?
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The researchers identified five themes: physical and emotional effects of sun exposure, limited awareness, cultural influences, barriers to protection, and recommendations for improvement.
According to the study, participants commonly understood sun exposure through heat-related symptoms and had less knowledge of UV-specific concepts such as UPF and the UV Index.
Why should researchers separate heat-related illness from UV-related harm?
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Researchers should separate the two risks because heat-related illness and UV-related harm require different preventive actions.
According to the PLoS One study, hydration, rest, and cooling address heat-related illness, while sunscreen and UPF-rated products address UV exposure.
How can AI help analyze qualitative health interviews?
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AI can help researchers organize transcripts, identify recurring concepts, compare participant segments, and retrieve supporting quotations more efficiently.
AI does not establish validity by itself, so researchers should combine AI assistance with a transparent codebook, human review, privacy controls, translation checks, and a documented audit trail.
Can the Hajj study be generalized to all international pilgrims?
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The study should not be generalized to all international pilgrims because the pilgrim sample included only Saudi nationals and covered one Hajj season.
According to the study's limitations, future research should include more diverse nationalities, cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, and language groups.
Conclusion and Next Steps for AI-Enabled Qualitative Research
The November 2026 PLoS One study shows how qualitative interviews can reveal the cultural, practical, and communication factors behind sun protection behavior during Hajj. The study's 29 participants and five themes point to a need for multilingual education, affordable protective products, culturally appropriate messaging, and clearer separation of heat and UV risks.
AI-enabled qualitative research can help public health and healthcare teams move from transcripts to structured themes and cross-segment comparisons faster, while human researchers remain responsible for interpretation, ethics, and contextual validity. Try Evidano for free to analyze interview transcripts, open-ended responses, and related documents in one qualitative research workflow.
Topics
- qualitative sun protection research
- AI qualitative research analysis
- Hajj sun protection study
- thematic analysis of interviews
- healthcare qualitative data analysis
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