Abstract:
This article presents research that utilized quantitative-qualitative mixed design to explore disclosure of EDI by married men aged 25 to 60 years with two or more years in marriage in Kenya. A literature search shows a rarity of data in the area of disclosure of EDI by men. The focus was on the men’s experience of EDI, EDI impact and what they would wish their spouses to know. Quantitative data was gathered from self-administered questionnaires (n=152, men) and qualitative data from two focus group discussions (n=16 men). Results revealed that though 65% and 40% of the respondents had physical and emotional EDI respectively; 92.5% of the respondents’ spouses were not aware about the EDI and only 7.5% of the respondents disclosed their EDI to their spouses. Further, 66% of the respondents expressed that their worst fear was hurting their spouse. This was determined to be out of fear of potential negative consequences once discovered with 62% of the respondents fearing their spouse would leave them. Themes from qualitative data indicated respondents’ perception of EDI and what they wished their spouses would understand. The findings may inform clinicians working with couples affected by EDI by the male partner, on the subtle predisposing and maintaining factors of the EDI by the men, and hence inform planning effective treatment approaches.
