Emotional experiences of incestuous fathers : a social constructionist investigation

Abstract

This study aimed to relate the emotions of two fathers regarding their incestuous behaviour.

The epistemological framework is social constructionism. The `case-study approach' was chosen as the most suitable method to gain access to the information. Qualitative in-depth interviews with the fathers were conducted to collect data about their emotional experiences regarding their incestuous behaviour and Hermeneutics was used as method of data analysis.

The emotional experiences of the participants regarding their incestuous behaviour were reconstructed in the form of prominent themes. Themes that seemed to re-occur in both participants' stories were identified and discussed as common themes. These themes included; ambivalence, powerlessness and guilt.

This study provides a rich understanding of the emotional experiences of incestuous fathers. These experiences seem to be unstated or insufficiently emphasised in the traditional empirical, cause and effect, linear modernist literature.