شادکامی زناشویی

Marital conflicts are open oppositions that cause differences of opinion and communication problems between spouses. Marital conflicts create essential challenges for couples and their families and have negative consequences for couples. Among the factors that are affected by conflicts in the marital relationship are family resilience and marital happiness. The increase in marital conflicts and their adverse effects on family resilience, marital happiness, and the mental health of couples and children has made researchers realize that they should find ways to strengthen marital relations. One of the interventions that can be used to reduce marital problems in couples is fairness–oriented contextual therapy. Counselors and psychotherapists have always considered the choice of an effective therapeutic approach in improving family functions. This research aimed to determine the efficacy of fairness–based contextual therapy on family resilience and marital happiness of couples with marital conflict.

The research method was quasi–experimental with a pretest–posttest and three–month follow–up design with a control group. The statistical population of the present study included all conflicting couples referred to the Happy Life and Mobin Counseling Center in Tabriz City, Iran, in 2023–2024. Among these couples, a sample of 32 legitimate volunteers was selected by purposive sampling. Then, they were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups (16 people in each group). The inclusion criteria for the research were referring to a psychology clinic intending to resolve marital conflict, having at least a diploma, living together with a spouse at the time of conducting the research until its completion, and being willing to participate in the study and continuing treatment sessions, and lacking abuse drugs and acute and chronic psychological disorders. For the experimental group, 10 fairness–based contextual therapy sessions were held in groups, 60–minute sessions per week for ten weeks. During this period, the control group did not receive any intervention. We used the Family Resilience Scale (Sikbi, 2005) and the Marital Happiness Questionnaire (Azrin et al., 1973) for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to describe the data. Descriptive statistics included mean and standard deviation. Regarding inferential statistics, variance analysis with repeated measures and Bonferroni post hoc test were used to compare the means between the stages of the research. Data analysis was done using SPSS software version 26. The significance level of the tests was considered 0.05.

The effects of time, group, and the interaction of time*group on the scores of family resilience and marital happiness variables were significant (p<0.001). The significant difference in the average scores between the pretest and posttest stages, as well as pretest and follow–up for the variables of marital happiness and family resilience in the experimental group, indicated a significant increase in scores in the posttest and follow–up compared to the pretest (p=0.001). While regarding the variables of marital happiness (p=0.130) and family resilience (p=1.000) in the experimental group, no significant difference was observed between the posttest and the follow–up, which indicated the stability of the treatment effects over time.

According to the results, fairness–based contextual therapy effectively increases marital happiness and family resilience. Therefore, counselors and couple therapists may use this treatment to improve family resilience and marital happiness.

Parents of children with special needs due to their children problems face with many problems including decrease marital happiness, resilience and life satisfaction and group positive training is one of the effective therapeutic methods. Therefore, present research aimed to determine the effectiveness of positive couple therapy on marital happiness, resilience and life satisfaction in parents of children with special needs.

The method of this study was semi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design and control group. The research population was parents of children with special needs of Ahvaz city in 2018-19 academic years, which from them the parent of 30 students were selected by available sampling method and randomly assigned into two equal groups (each group 15 couple). The experimental group received group positive training for 14 sessions of 90-minutes based on package of Seligman & et al (2006) and the control group receive no training. Research tools were the questionnaires of marital happiness (Azreen & et al, 1973), resilience (Connor & Davidson, 2003) and life satisfaction (Diner & et al, 1985). Data analyzed by Chi-square, independent t and multivariate analysis of covariance tests in SPSS-24 software.

The findings showed that in the pretest stage there wasn’t significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of marital happiness, resilience and life satisfaction (P>0/05), but in the posttest between them there was significant difference in terms of all three variables of marital happiness, resilience and life satisfaction (P<0/001). In the other words, group positive training led to increased marital happiness (F=1069/574), resilience (F=281/722) and life satisfaction (F=414/315) in parents of children with special needs (P<0/001).

The results indicated the effectiveness of group positive training on marital happiness, resilience and life satisfaction in parents of children with special needs. Therefore, it is suggested that to use this method along with other therapeutic methods to improve psychological characteristics.

Marriage and specifically emotional exchange between couples is among the strongest positive emotions and can increase their happiness. Marital Happiness (MH) is the main factor in predicting overall happiness in men and women. Given the complex nature of marital relationships and the effects of emotions, needs, fears, and attachments on coupleschr('39') relationships, it is essential to develop effective interventions to help couples. Furthermore, numerous couples seek help from couple therapists and family counselors due to problems related to MH and Sexual Functioning (SF). Therefore, to treat and solve marital problems, effective methods on MH and SF should be revived. This study aimed to survey the effects of Emotion–Focused Therapy (EFT) on MH and SF.

This was a quasi–experimental study with a pretest–posttest–follow–up and a control group design. The statistical population of the present study consisted of all couples in Tehran City, Iran, in 2019. The study participants were selected by the convenience sampling method. The sample size was calculated by G*Power software. The required number of samples was calculated based on similar studies, considering the effect size of 0.40, confidence level of 0.95, test power of 0.80, and the rate of loss of 10% per group of 15 subjects. The study samples included 30 couples who obtained scores below the cut–off point in the questionnaires, including the Female Sexual Function Index (score 26), the International Index of Erectile Function (lower than score 35), and the Marital Happiness Scale (score 50). The study participants who met the inclusion/exclusion criteria of the research were recruited from psychology clinics and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (n=15 couples/group). The study groups were matched in terms of age, gender, and educational level. The inclusion criteria of the research were couples who have been married for 3–10 years; a minimum diploma education; no biopsychological problems, and volunteering to participate in the research. Besides, the exclusion criterion was the non–observance of the group rules, i.e., stated in the first session and absence from >1 sessions. The research tools were conducted in pretest, posttest, and follow–up phases. After completing the pretest, the intervention group received 11 two–hour weekly sessions based on Johnson et al.’s (1999) training package; however, the controls received no intervention during this period. The repeated–measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni posthoc test were used in SPSS for data analysis. The significance level of the tests was set at 0.05.

The obtained results indicated that the ANOVA data of MH was significant for time effect (p<0.001) and group effect (p<0.001) and the effect size of a group intervention for MH equaled 0.64; Additionally, ANOVA data of male’s SF for time effect (p<0.001) and group effect (p<0.001) was significant and the effect of a group intervention for male SF was measured as 0.44. Additionally, ANOVA data of female’s SF was significant for time effect (p<0.001) and group effect (p<0.001), and the effect size of a group intervention for female’s SF was equal to 0.59. Thus, MH and SF of men and women suggested a significant difference between the experimental and control groups during the research stages, which indicated the effect of the intervention. Furthermore, the posttest scores of MH in the experimental group were higher than those of the pretest (p<0.001). The follow–up scores of MH were significantly different from those of the pretest and posttest stages (p<0.001). Moreover, the posttest scores of male’s SF in the experimental group were higher than that of the pretest (p<0.001). Male’s SF follow–up scores were significantly different from those of the pretest and posttest stages (p<0.001). Additionally, the posttest scores of female’s SF in the experimental group were lower than those in the pretest (p<0.001). Female’s SF scores of the follow–up stage were significantly different from the pretest stage (p<0.001); however, no significant difference was observed between the posttest and follow–up stages (p=0.486). The collected results signified the effectiveness of EF couple therapy in the follow–up phase concerning MH and SF, i..e, significantly increased and continued. However, it remained stable for womenchr('39')s SF.

Based on the present study findings, EFT is an effective method to increase MH and SF in couples. Therefore, it is recommended that counselors and therapists use EF couple therapy to improve MH and SF in couples.