The Effectiveness of Self-Compassion Focused Therapy on Marital Self-regulation, Marital Burnout, and Self-Criticism in Infertile Women

 The inability to have a child is stressful, causes psychological distress and acts as a powerful factor in relationships between couples and family strengths. The aim of the present study was investigate to the effectiveness of self-compassion focused therapy on marital self-regulation, marital burnout, and self-criticism in infertile women.

This study was an applied and quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test with a control group. The statistical population consisted of infertile women who referred to infertility centers in the cities of Chalus and Noshahr between June and September 2018. Among them, 30 people were selected and divided into experimental and control. Experimental groups received self-compassion-focused therapy (for ten 60-min sessions), but the control group did not receive any intervention. The Self-Regulation for Effective Relationships Scale (SRERS), Marital Burnout Questionnaire (MBQ) and Self-Criterion Questionnaires (SCQ) were used to collect the data. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 24 in two parts: descriptive and inferential (multivariate analysis of covariance).

 The results showed that self-compassion focused therapy had a significant effect on marital self-regulation (F=8.17, p<0.001), marital burnout (F=52.52, p<0.001), and self-criticism (F=64.99, p<0.001) in infertile women.

 It can be concluded that self-compassion focused therapy was effective in improving marital self-regulation, marital burnout, and self-esteem in infertile women.