The Effectiveness of Couples Coping Enhancement Training (CCET) on Marital Adjustment and Marital Coping Strategies

The present study assessed the impact of couples coping enhancement training (CCET) on dyadic adjustment and marital coping strategies. The method of the study is a quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and follow-up with a control group. The parents of grade school students in Kelachay city in Gilan province, comprised the participants of this study which included 14 couples who were chosen and were randomly organized into two groups (an experimental and a control group). Questionnaires used in this study were Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) and Bowman's Marital Coping Inventory (MCI) and the intervention method was the Couple Coping Strength Training (CCET) program, which was trained in eight sessions of two hours and 15 minutes. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and SPSS21 software. Results showed that CCET results in an increase in marital adjustment scores and its dimensions including marital satisfaction, consensus, cohesion and affection expression (p <0.01). CEET program also led to a decrease in coping scores and its dimensions including conflict, self-blame, self-interest, avoidance and increasing of effective coping (p <0.05) as components of marital coping strategies. Results of follow-up showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups after two months. Regarding our findings it can be concluded that couples in coping with stressful life events rarely apply marital conflict, self-blame, self-interest, avoidance and they often use effective coping and efficient communication that lead to higher marital satisfaction.