The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral couple therapy on mental vitality and marital intimacy of couples referring to counseling centers in Tonekabon city

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 M.A, family counseling, Department of Psychology and counseling,Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Behbahan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Behbahan, Iran.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral couple therapy on mental vitality and marital intimacy of couples referring to counseling centers in Tonekabon city. The research method was applied from the view point of objective and in terms of its nature, was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. To select the sample, 30 couples were selected through simple random sampling from 75 couples and were replaced in the same way in two groups (15 couples) and finally one group was randomly selected as the experimental group and the other as the control group. The experimental group underwent cognitive behavioral couple therapy training for 10 sessions of 100 minutes, and the control group did not receive any intervention. Data were collected using the Thompson and Walker Marital Intimacy Questionnaire (1983) and the Ryan and Frederick Mental Life Questionnaire (1997). In this study, multivariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the post-test of two groups in mental vitality and marital intimacy, meaning that the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral couple therapy on couples' mental vitality and marital intimacy was significant and led to an increase in the two variables in the experimental group. The results of the present study emphasize the need to use cognitive-behavioral couple therapy to improve couples' marital life.

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