The effect of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on marital satisfactionand quality of life in couples

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of cognitive therapy based on mindfulness on martial adjustmentand life quality of couples.

This experimental study had been done by pre-test and post-test method, with control group. The sample population included students who visited Urmia psychological and counseling service clinics in the second half of the year 2013 to receive professional assistance related to their marital problems. At first, in order to implement the project, six centers were randomly selected from among the list of counseling centers in city of Urmia. Participants were eligible to enter the study if they were aged between 30-50 years; had married for at least one year, and had a diploma degree. As such, 28 people were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. Experimental group participants took part in  eight 2-hour weekly sessions of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. The control group received usual care. Data was collected by Marital Satisfaction Scale and the Quality of Life Scale. To analyze the data, multivariate analysis of covariance method was used.

The data obtained were analyzed to evaluate the efficacy of treatment. The results of multivariate analysis of covariance between the experimental and control groups showed that participants in the two groups showed significant differences in quality of life and marital satisfaction. The results show that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy seems to have positive effect on quality of life and marital satisfaction. The highest levels of intervention effects on quality of life and marital satisfaction were 0.66 and 0.93 respectively.

It appears that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy influences participants' cognitive structure and information processing, hence increasing participants’ awareness of the present moment through use of abilities like breathing and body awareness, that puts them in the state of here-and-now. Based on apparent positive effect of using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on marital satisfaction and couple's reported quality of life, its use, especially in counseling couples is recommended