Trapped in captivity: marital perceptions of wives of former prisoners of war

Knowledge on the experience of prisoners of war's (POWs) wives is sparse, and mostly concentrates on the first decade after captivity. The present qualitative study examined the marital perceptions of seven wives of POWs after three decades. Participants were recruited through therapists who worked with families of POWs. Data were collected by a semi-structured, in-depth focus group interview. The findings of the study shed light on: (1) The place of captivity in the life of the family over time and (2) the women's perception of their role and place in the marital relation as being responsible mainly for the husband's well being and the couple's relationship, while struggling to preserve their personal needs. The meaning of the results is discussed together with implications for practice.