Heba Yaagoub AlNujaidi, Saja A Al-Rayes, Arwa Alumran
Saudi women's wellness is distinctively shaped by spirituality, family centrality, and dual-role burden. These findings are presented as a preliminary, culturally situated wellness framework, the HER-WELL (Holistic Empowerment and Resilience-Wellness) framework, that offers a foundation for future research, multidisciplinary healthcare practice, and empirical validation.
PURPOSE: This study explores the wellness dimensions of Saudi women and their alignment with Swarbrick's Eight Dimensions of Wellness framework, aiming to develop a provisional, culturally grounded wellness framework that reflects Saudi women's lived experiences and values.
METHODS: An exploratory qualitative design, grounded in a constructivist paradigm, employed participant-generated mind maps as the primary data collection method, with a purposive, maximum-variation sample of 18 Saudi women, ensuring diversity across age groups (18-65 years) and socioeconomic strata. Sessions lasted 45-90 minutes, during which participants collaboratively constructed, with researcher facilitation, pencil-based mind maps to visually represent and prioritize their wellness experiences. Data analysis followed a hybrid thematic analysis approach, which systematically integrates deductive coding, guided by the Eight Dimensions of Wellness framework, with inductive coding to identify themes that emerge beyond the existing framework. The wellness dimensions were then ranked and visualized using heatmaps, with descriptive statistics (median, IQR) calculated for each dimension.
RESULTS: Eight wellness dimensions emerged: seven aligned deductively with the framework (physical, emotional, social, spiritual, home environment [culturally adapted from environmental], occupational [incorporating intellectual], and financial), while Mental Wellness was inductively derived as a prominent addition. Islamic/Spiritual Wellness ranked highest, followed by Physical and Emotional Wellness. Participants emphasized family roles, cultural expectations, and the mental load of dual caregiving and occupational responsibilities.
CONCLUSION: Saudi women's wellness is distinctively shaped by spirituality, family centrality, and dual-role burden. These findings are presented as a preliminary, culturally situated wellness framework, the HER-WELL (Holistic Empowerment and Resilience-Wellness) framework, that offers a foundation for future research, multidisciplinary healthcare practice, and empirical validation.