Introduction
The family is the first public institutional system. Without healthy families, no society could claim to be healthy. The divorce trend has become a serious social concern, suspected of being influenced by socioeconomic factors [1]. Divorce refers to disturbing or altering the duties and responsibilities of a married couple under the supervision of territorial laws. Among all social problems, none has a long-term effect as divorce. Many studies show that divorce has many complications on the physical and mental health of parents and their children [3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. 
Indicators used to determine the status of a divorce are the crude divorce rate, the divorce to marriage ratio, and the marriage to divorce ratio. In late 2016, The crude divorce rate in Iran was at its highest level, about 2.27 per thousand, with a high frequency in the 30-40 year age group [9, 10, 11]. 
Recent studies have shown that factors such as the economic situation, especially in the housing sector, male unemployment, increasing the level of women’s university education, and income inequality are causes of divorce in society [13, 14]. According to the previous studies, there is a gap in comprehensive studies about the divorce rate, causes, and implemented interventions in Iran. Therefore, this article aims to study these issues in Iran.
Methods
To answer the study’s questions, we used a qualitative approach and three data gathering methods: reviewing documents, structured interviews, and focused group discussion. The collected data have been analyzed by the content analysis method. Three main questions were considered in this study:
1. What is the trend of divorce in Iran?
2. What are the main reasons for the current divorce status in the country?
3. What policies, programs, or projects are to prevent and reduce divorce rates, and what are the results of them?
The study phases were as follows:
Reviewing the literature and documentation: To find related articles, legal documentaries, thesis, and reports, the databases of Google, Google  Scholar, PubMed, Web of  Science, Scopus, ProQuest, Irandoc, IranMedex, Madlib, and SID both in English and Persian were searched with the following keywords: Divorce, dissolution of marriage, marriage breakdown, separation, marriage failure; (Perceived/ main/ leading) causes of divorce, reasons for divorce; Divorce (rate/ trend/ statistics); Factors affecting divorce; Divorce prevention (program/ implementation/ intervention/ policy); Prevention and relationship enhancement program (PREP); The program, rules, intervention, and policies for divorce prevention and decline.
Finally, 52 articles from 176 articles were related to the causes of divorce and factors affecting it.
Interviewing experts: Purposive and snowball sampling were done to choose the experts. The questions were designed by a specialist with more than 15 years of experience in social determinants of health, and after piloting, the interviews were held by two experts. Each interview took approximately one hour in the office. Saturation was reached after the 12th interview. All sessions were recorded and transcribed with the samples’ permission. 
Holding group discussion meetings and completing open questionnaires: Managers and experts in organizations and ministries involved in family affairs and the divorce process were identified and invited by stakeholder analysis.
Then, all obtained data were analyzed by content analysis. 
Results
Table 1 shows the most important indices and causes for divorce in Iran.


The indices of “divorce to marriage ratio,” “crude rate of divorce,” and “marriage to divorce ratio” were 25.3, 175000, and 3.9, respectively, in 2016 and have reached their highest level. The highest divorce to marriage ratio in 2016 belongs to Tehran, Qom, and Alborz provinces. Divorce to marriage rate in cities was 26.07 per 100 persons, while in villages was 13.89 per 100 cases in 2015. Also, the highest rate of divorce for women happens in the 25 to 29 years age range and for men in the 30 to 34 year age range, and 66.2% of registered divorces have happened in less than five years [12, 15].
Weak literacy and marital skills, changing patterns of matching, increased individualism and self-interest seeking, unemployment, addiction, and cyber ads (online advertising) were considered the most important reasons for divorce in experts’ view.
 According to the constitutional law and socioeconomic development plans, the family is considered the fundamental unit of the Islamic community. Thus, all relevant laws, regulations, and planning should be made to facilitate the family formation, protect its sanctity, and maintain family relations [18].
Since 2015, a program for controlling and decreasing the divorce rate has been implemented in Iran, but it has its drawbacks. The most critical challenges of the program are weak inter-sectoral collaboration and community participation, dispersing and islanding social services, and the effect of political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and international macro factors on mentioned national program.
Discussion
More recently, the divorce to marriage ratio has risen. Lack of skills and literacy in marital life, changing patterns of matching, increased individualism and self-interest seeking, unemployment and addiction, and cyber training are figured out as the most important reasons for divorce by the experts. The national program for controlling the declining divorce rate is presently carried out. However, the main challenges of implementation are the weakness of inter-sectoral cooperation, the low participation of people, and the impact of political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and international factors on this national program. Considering the cost-effectiveness of the interventions, it is essential to develop widespread studies and focus on more competent new methods and also correct structural factors in the community, to formulate a comprehensive national program to strengthen the foundation of the family and reduce the amount of divorce in the country. Social issues and damages to the families are complex. This complexity necessitates the integration of scattered and island social services in comprehensive social care units for a target population to be designed and made available nationwide.

Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
This plan is derived from the results of "Development and implementation of social marketing plan for sustainable life (family consolidation and divorce reduction)" approved by Tehran University of Medical Sciences with code IR.TUMS.NI.REC.1398.017.

Funding
The social deputy of the country's welfare organization has been the financial sponsor of this project.

Authors contributions
Conceptualization and Methodology: Damari; Validation: Damari, Masoudi farid, Hajebi and Ehsani; Formal Analysis: Damari, Masoudi farid, Hajebi and derakhshannia; Investigation: Damari and Ehsani: Writing – Original Draft Preparation: Ehsani: Writing – Review & Editing : Damari, Masoudi farid, Hajebi and derakhshannia; Supervision and Project Administration: Damari.

Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest

Acknowledgements
Thanks and appreciation are given to the social deputy of the country's welfare organization for providing the resources for this project.

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