Exploring a Family Consolidation Model based on the Lazarus Multifaceted Theory among Couples in Yazd City (Qualitative)

Family consolidation leads the society towards its desirable ideals. Therefore, the youth should be encouraged to marry and provided with the necessary trainings on family consolidation. The present qualitative research aimed to develop a family consolidation model based on the Lazarus Multifaceted Model in order to consolidate the family foundation.

To collect the study information, 19 family therapists and experts were selected by purposive sampling method and interviewed in Yazd province, Iran. The guided qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. The interview questions were semi-structured based on the Lazarus theory including components such as behavior, emotion, cognition, senses, relationship, mental imagery, and physical senses. The interviews continued up to the data saturation where no new code was created. Later, the recorded interviews were transcribed, typewritten, and coded. After coding, the qualitative research experts’ opinions were asked to determine the content validity of the extracted codes based on the extracted results of the native model.

Data analysis ultimately led to the formation of 14 sub-themes and 7 main themes (behavior, emotion, cognition, senses, relationship, mental imagery, and physical senses). The sub-themes consisted of adherence to the family, intimacy, effective communication, importance of counseling, forgiveness, introversion / extraversion, timing, sensory improvement, family visiting, family ceremony, self-confidence, media impact, diversity in nutrition, exercises, and recreation.

Since family is the best emotional, social, and emotional basis for its members, this research presented a model to educate family consolidation to indvudlas with different problems. This model can also be valuable for therapists and family experts dealing with family members.