Investigating the role of imagotherapy on improving couples' communication patterns in married women seeking divorce in Tehran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.d. student General Psychology, Department of Psychology , Zahedan Branch , Islamic Azad University, Zahedan , Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran. (Corresponding author)

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology , Zahedan Branch , Islamic Azad University , Zahedan ,Iran.

Abstract

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the effect of imagotherapy on improving couples' communication patterns in married women seeking divorce in Tehran. The main objective was to evaluate the role of this intervention in improving empathy, conflict management, and emotional connection in couples' relationships.
Methods: The study was conducted using a quasi-experimental method with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design. 60 married women seeking divorce were purposively selected and randomly divided into two experimental (imagotherapy) and control groups. The experimental group underwent 12 sessions of imagotherapy, and the control group did not receive any intervention. The data collection tool was the standard questionnaire on couples' communication patterns, and the data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance.
Results: The findings showed that the mean scores of communication patterns in the experimental group increased significantly after the intervention (P<0.05), while the control group did not experience any significant change. These results remained stable in the follow-up phase. The greatest improvement was observed in the dimensions of conflict management (+42%), empathy (+35%), and emotional connection (+38%). Discussion: The results of this study were consistent with previous studies on the effectiveness of imagotherapy. This method played an important role in improving the quality of couples' relationships by providing practical tools to identify and replace ineffective patterns. Also, comparing the results of the control group showed that the positive changes were only due to the imagotherapy intervention.
Conclusion: Imagotherapy had a significant impact on improving couples' communication patterns and can be used as an effective method to reduce marital conflicts and increase the quality of life together. The expansion of these interventions in family counseling centers can play a key role in reducing the divorce rate.

Keywords

Medical Journal of Mashhad university of Medical Sciences
Volume 68, Issue 1
March and April 2025
Pages 191-198

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