The Lived Experiences of Runaway Girls Who Live in Correction and Rehabilitation Center about Personal and Family Reactions to Running away from Home: A Phenomenological Research

Introduction: The rising rate of running away from home by the Iranian girls indicates the significance of doing more profound researches about runaway phenomenon. This study aimed to investigate the lived experiences of runaway girls who lived in correction and rehabilitation center about personal and family reactions to running away from home. Method: In this research, which was based on phenomenological research, 12 girls who had been referred to correction and rehabilitation center were chosen via purposive sampling and their lived experiences were studied using semi-structured interview. The texts of the interviews were interpreted using interpretative phenomenology approach and Van Manen method. As a result, the main theme, sub-themes, and semantic units were achieved. Results: The results were shown by two sub-themes as repression and adaptability reactions to running away. These sub-themes showed the lived experiences of the girls about personal and family reactions to running away which was the main theme of this study. Conclusion: The results indicate that family adaptive reactions and their toleration about the children runaway result in making a safe atmosphere in the family and make a context to prevent renew runaways from home. In addition, repressive reactions cause the teenagers to consider the family as an insecure base and as a result, a base to renew runaways will be provided. Besides, the results indicate that guilty and regret feelings of the samples provide a serve motivation to modify the personal function and help the turmoil family after freedom from the correction and rehabilitation center