The effectiveness of positive couple therapy and acceptance and commitment on increasing marital adjustment

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Student, Department of Psychology, Zahedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zahedan, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran

Abstract

Introduction
Research has shown that positivist psychotherapy leads to marital adjustment in couples. On the other hand, acceptance and commitment therapy has been effective in reducing issues such as conflict and conflict, adaptation and commitment meaning a rich and meaningful life, but there is a research gap in comparing the two approaches. The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of couples. Positive therapy and therapy was based on acceptance and commitment to increase marital adjustment in couples.
Material and Method
The method of the present study was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population included all couples seeking divorce who had referred to family counseling centers in Iranshahr in 1399 for couple therapy. 45 couples were selected by convenience sampling method and then randomly divided into two groups of 30 experimental and one group of 30 controls. Participants responded to the Lock and Wallace Marital Adjustment Questionnaire (1995). Couples therapy, positive therapy Seligman and Sequent Mihali (2000) and therapy based on acceptance and commitment Hayes, Strosahel and Wilson (2012) performed in 8 sessions of 90 minutes on the experimental groups and after the post-test sessions. Done. Finally, after the post-test, the results were analyzed by analysis of covariance.
Results
The results showed that couples therapy, positive therapy and acceptance and commitment based therapy were effective in increasing marital adjustment in couples (P <0.01). Also, positive couple therapy training had a more significant effect than acceptance and commitment therapy (P <0.01).
Conclusion
Considering that both interventions had a strong effect on increasing marital adjustment, but positive couple therapy was more effective in increasing marital adjustment and negligence, so the combination of these two methods in couples therapy interventions will probably lead to more effective results.

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