Background and purpose: The most significant factor in the family breakdown is a damage called divorce which destroys the individual, the family and the society; therefore, the present study was conducted aiming to investigate the effectiveness of couple therapy through ACT method on hope in life and self-compassion in the couples asking for divorce.
Material and methods: A multiple baseline non-concurrent experimental single case study type was used in the present study. The statistical population included all the couples referring to consultation centers in the town of Malayer in 2019. The study samples included 3 couples (6 people) with marital conflict who were selected through purposive sampling method and randomly accommodated into experimental and control groups (three couples in each group). ACT protocol was administered in three stages of baseline, twelve-session intervention, and two-month follow-up and the subjects answered the questionnaires of hope in life and self-compassion three times before treatment, three times in the middle of the treatment and twice at the end of the present research. The applied questionnaires in the present study included the questionnaire of hope in life (Schneider, et.al. 1991) and the questionnaire of self-compassion (Neff, 2003). The data from the study were analyzed through visual drawing, reliable change index, and improvement percentage formula.
Findings: The results showed that the ACT-based couple therapy has had significant effect on the hope in life and self-compassion of the couples asking for divorce;