A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Combined Systemic Couple Therapy (Bowen) and Emotion-focused Therapy (Johnson) Packages and Integrated Couple Therapy on the Quality of Marital Life of Couples Affected by Infidelity

Exposing infidelity has devastating and shocking effects on the family and it can be so severe and uncontrollable that it disrupts the daily functioning and concentration of family members and endangers the quality of marital life. Therefore, interventions to improve the marital quality of married couples affected by infidelity are among the most important actions of psychologists. To this end, the aim of this study wasto compare the effectiveness of combined systemic couple therapy (Bowen) and emotion-focused therapy (Johnson) packagesand integrated couple therapy on the quality of marital life of couples affected by infidelity.

The present study is a quasi-experimental design with single-subject design in which A-B design was used. In this study, 12 measurements (4 times as baseline, 4 times during treatment, and 4 times as follow-up) were performed. Six couples (12 persons) were selected by purposive sampling from couples who experienced meta-marital relationship referring to Isfahan centers and clinics and were randomly divided into two groups: combined systemic couple therapy (Bowen) and emotion-focused therapy (Johnson) packages(3 couples) and integrated couple therapy (3 couples). Then, the intervention was administered for 15 sessions of combined systemic couple therapy (Bowen) and emotion-focused therapy (Johnson) for the first group and 8 sessions of integrated couple therapy for the second group. Research instruments included Quality Marital inventory. Data analysis was done by visual analysis of graphs using the percentage of improvement.

Both combined systemic couple therapy (Bowen) and emotion-focused therapy (Johnson) packagesand integrated couple therapy had lasting effects on the quality of marital life of the married couples affected by infidelity.

 Discussion & Conclusion:

Combined systemic couple therapy (Bowen) and emotion- focused therapy (Johnson) packagesand integrated couple therapy can all play an important role in improving the quality of marital life of the couples affected by infidelity.