Effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction on reducing couple burnout in women

The undesirable and destructive effects of stress on the lives of many couples are grounds for marital burnout and consequently, the quality of the couple’s marital relationship is affected. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training on reducing couple burnout among women.

This quasi-experimental study was performed on 30 married women referred to the Counseling and Psychological Services Center during 2016 with a score of 75 on their marital burnout questionnaire. Subjects were selected using available sampling method and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups that each included 15 members and the pre-test-post-test-follow-up method was performed. The intervention group participated in an 8-session course of mindfulness-based stress reduction training. No intervention was provided for the subjects in the control group until the end of the follow-up stage. The data were collected using Pines Marital Burnout Scale (1996) which were completed in pre-test, post-test, and one-month follow-up stages by subjects in both groups. In the study groups, the components of marital burnout including physical fatigue, mental fatigue and emotional fatigue were compared and evaluated.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention reduced marital burnout and its components (physical fatigue, mental fatigue, and affective fatigue) in the interventional group compared to the control group at the end of the intervention and after one month follow-up (P<0.05).

This study showed that mindfulness-based stress reduction training is an effectiveness intervention for reducing the level of marital burnout among women.