The Effect of Treatment of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on Marital Adjustment, Sense of Coherence and Psychological Flexibility of Veteran's Wives

In addition to the physical and psychological consequences for veterans, war has adverse effects on their wives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of treatment of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on marital adjustment, sense of coherence and psychological flexibility of veteran's wives. This is a quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test and follow-up with a control group. The statistical population was all wives of veterans who were covered by the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs of Kermanshah city in 2019. A total of 28 women were selected by the available sampling method and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups (experimental groups, n=14; control group: n=14). At baseline, the Locke-Wallace marital adjustment Questionnaire (1959), Antonovsky's sense of coherence Questionnaire (1987), and the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II; Bond et al., 2007) were completed by both groups. This was followed by a MBSR intervention that was performed for 8 sessions of 90 minutes for 2 months for the treatment group, while the control group did not receive any treatment. After completing the intervention, post-tests were performed for both groups, and three months later, follow up was performed using the same questionnaires for both groups. The mean age (±SD) was 48.85 ± 3.37 years of the experimental group and 49.64 ± 2.92 years for the control group. Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance showed that MBSR intervention had a significant effect on marital adjustment, psychological flexibility (p<0.05) and sense of coherence (p<0.001) in the experimental group. These results were recorded at the follow-up stage. The MBSR intervention is an effective treatment program for promoting marital adjustment, sense of coherence and psychological flexibility of veterans' wives. In order to increase the quality of life of veterans' spouses, it is necessary to provide an interventional program for reducing mental health problems.