The Effects of Training Communication Skills on Marital Adjustment of the Parents of the Intellectual Disabled Students

The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the effects of training communication skills on parents marital adjustment dimentions of the intellectual disabled students in Isfahan. The research design is quasi-experimental. The population in the present paper was all parents of intellectual disabled students in Isfahan; 30 couples among the parents of the mentally disabled children were selected randomly in multiple stages for the sample; they were placed into two groups: (15 pairs) in experimental group and (15 pairs) in control group. To collect data, expressing marital adjustment (SPANIER) was used. Teaching communication skills was instructed to the experimental group in nine sessions; first, after conducting the pilot test for both groups, experimental intervention program was presented; then, a post-test was taken from both groups; after running a follow-up test for four weeks, sustainability of training the communication skills was tested again. Finally, the statistical model of multivariate analysis of covariance was used for data analysis. Findings of the present study showed that training of the communication skills is effective for marital adjustment in its all dimensions in two stages of post-test and follow-up stage (P≤0.001). So it has been suggested that the responsible organizations should provide communication skill training for those parents.