Comparison of the effectiveness of couple therapy methods in the theory of Choice, acceptance and commitment (ACT), and integrative couple therapy in marital commitment of couples

Marital commitment and its various dimensions are among the most important factors in the sustainability of a shared life. Much research has been done using paired therapeutic approaches of theory of choice, acceptance, and commitment, and coupled therapies. But which of these could be more effective?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of couple therapy methods of selection, acceptance and commitment theory and coupled couples therapy in promoting couples' commitment.

The present study was a pilot study with pre-test and post-test design with one month control and follow-up group. The study population was all couples in Ardabil city in 2018. The sampling method was available, 60 couples whose scores on the Commitment Questionnaire were lower than the average were selected and randomly divided into four groups. The Adams & Jones (1997) Cognitive Commitment Inventory was used to evaluate and compare Glasser's group therapy (Abbasi Mollid et al, 2015) in 8 sessions of 120 minutes, one session per week on the 15 couples, acceptance and commitment based therapy (Hayes, 2006) A 2-hour session was conducted in 8 sessions per week on 15 couples and paired therapy (Feldman's, 1979) was conducted in 8 sessions in 1.5-hour sessions on 15 couples and covariance analysis was used to analyze the hypotheses.

The results of covariance analysis showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups. This difference showed that there was a significant difference in the experimental groups in post-test (P<0/05) and follow-up (P<0/01) compared to the pre-test mean marital commitment scores and also the effectiveness of choice therapy education in couple therapy. Compared with the other two groups.

From the results obtained in this study it can be concluded that couples therapy methods of choice theory, acceptance and commitment and couples therapy therapy have been effective in promoting couples' commitment.