Lived experience of women of their husbands extramarital relationships: A phenomenological study

Extramarital relationship is one of the problems that severely affects individuals lives and is one of the main reasons of divorce. The aim of the present study is deep understanding of women's experience of their husbands extramarital relations. The research method is phenomenology which is a qualitative method. For this purpose, 12 persons were selected by purposeful sampling method. Depth interview methods were used for data collection. The interviews were recorded and written word by word and were analyzed using the colizzi method. Five main themes were extracted including intense confusion, unpleasant emotions, intense preoccupation with the causes of infidelity, dissolution in life with unfaithful spouse and grief and sorrow. Based on the findings of this study, the negative consequences of extramarital relationship is very deep and long-lasting for damaged wife and the whole family. As a result, make people aware of the negative consequences can be effective in the prevention of extramarital relationship. Additionally, the clinicians can use these findings to help the women to cope with the problem in a better way.