The Effect of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Adopted for Couples Compared with Integrative Couple Therapy on Marital Conflicts of Couples with Breast Cancer

The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy adopted for couples with integrative couple therapy in improving marital conflicts of couples with breast cancer.

In this semi-experimental study, a pre-post design was used. Using available sampling, we approached 200 couples facing breast cancer referred to the educational and therapeutic center of Alzahra Hospital in Tabriz and enrolled 45 couples with the highest scores on the Marital Conflict Questionnaire in the study. They were randomly divided into three groups: two experimental groups and one control group. One of the experimental groups received 8 consecutive 90-minute sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy adopted for couples, and the other experimental group received 16 sessions of integrative couple therapy.  The control group did not receive any intervention. The research tool was the Marital Conflict Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance.

The treatment based on acceptance and commitment therapy was effective in reducing marital conflict (P < 0.05). Integrative couple therapy, too, reduced marital conflict in women with cancer (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the two treatment modalities (P > 0.05).

Both acceptance and commitment therapy and integrative couple therapy are effective approaches to solving couples’ individual and communicative problems.