Effectiveness of educational program for enhancement of intimacy based on Iranian Native Culture on marital satisfaction of couples

Aim: Aim study was to determine the effectiveness of education on the increase of intimacy based on Iranian Native Culture on marital satisfaction of couples.
Method was quasi-experimental including pretest, posttest, control group and two month follow-up. The population was 330 married couples from “Shams A-Shomoosh” institution, living in zone 7 of Tehran in March 2017. Among them were selected 62 couples scoring lower than the cut off score point of 60, and randomly placed in an experimental and a control group. The experimental group received couple's intimacy training program, a combination of couples’ relationship (Sadeghi, 2010) and Cognitive Behavioral intimacy (Etemadi, 2005) programs, in a group format that were conducted in 15 weekly, 90-minutes sessions. Both groups filled the Walker and Tompson Intimacy Questionnaire (1983) and Enrich, Olson and Favez’s (1993) Marital Questionnaire. The data was analyzed based on repeated measurement variance design.
Results showed a meaningful difference between two groups in general marital satisfaction scores (F= 8.871, P= 0.0005) and in its elements including marital satisfaction (F= 8.406, P= 0.0005), communication (F= 4.267, P= 0.0005), conflict resolution (F= 7.594, P= 0.0005) and idealistic distortion (F= 6.658, P= 0.0005) in posttest and two month follow-up.
Considering the influence of intimacy on the improvement of marital satisfaction, couple therapists are advised to utilize this program to modify and enhance couple's interaction and educate them about communication with spouse's family in order to increase their marital satisfaction and intimacy.