Comparison of the Effectiveness of Group Education of Premarital Counseling Concepts Based on two Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches and Reality Therapy on Students' Fear of Intimacy

Fear of intimacy is a pervasive social disability. People who are afraid of intimacy are at risk for emotional problems. Therefore, the fear of intimacy will be in conflict with the well-being and health of the person. The aim of this study was to determine the difference between the effectiveness of group education of pre-marital counseling concepts based on two cognitive-behavioral approaches and reality therapy on students' fear of intimacy.

This research is a quasi-experimental research and its research design is pre-test, post-test design with control group. The study population of this study included single students of Islamic Azad University, Imam Khomeini Memorial Branch in Shahreri and the number of samples studied is equal to 45 people. In order to collect information, the questionnaire of fear of intimacy and group training course on the concepts of premarital counseling with cognitive-behavioral approach and reality therapy were used in 8 two-hour sessions in the subjects. Analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data.

The results of the study indicate that group training on the concepts of premarital counseling with two approaches of cognitive-behavioral and reality therapy has been significant in reducing students' fear of intimacy. But these two training methods were not statistically significant in terms of effectiveness.

Although both methods of cognitive-behavioral pre-marital counseling training and reality therapy have a significant effect on reducing fear of intimacy, it does not matter which of these two training methods is used for this important.