Living with veteran fathers: analyzing the psychological and emotional needs in daughters of veterans (A phenomenological study)

Although there is quantitative research on the impact of war on psychological, social and emotional aspects of veterans, there is little qualitative research on the effect of war in veterans’ family and life. The aim of this research was to analyze the psychological and emotional needs in daughters of veterans.

This is qualitative research with descriptive phenomenology approach, which was done in 2018. Data gathering was done by semi-structured interview. Participants were daughters of veteran father in Martyrs and Veterans Foundation, Tehran, Iran. The research data reached theoretical saturation by interviewing 19 daughters. The data were analyzed using Colaizzi's seven-step content analysis method.

Qualitative analysis showed that the psychological and emotional needs of girls were obtained in four main themes, namely: "suffering and negative experiences in life, feelings of happiness and pride in having a veteran father, negative and biased viewpoint from society, interaction of father's values and beliefs with daughter". The main theme or concept was "living in the stages of suffering and honor".

 The father's physical and psychological conditions affect the physical and mental health of the family and lead to a decrease in effective family interaction with each other. There is a sharp conflict between the sense of pride in having a veteran father on the one hand and the feeling of mental exhaustion in despair and sadness on the other as experienced by their daughters.