THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATION THEORY BASED ON COMMUNICATION THEORY ON DISTINCTION AND COUPLES' MARITAL CONFLICTS

 Marital conflicts cause harm in the relationship between couples. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment based on the theory of communication framework to increase differentiation and reduce marital conflicts.

 The research project was semi-experimental with pre-test-post-test design and follow-up with the control group. The statistical population of this study included all couples referring to counseling centers in Kerman in 2019. Eighteen couples from counseling centers were selected as available as a sample, and couple therapy sessions based on communication framework theory were conducted in 8 60-minute sessions. But the control group did not intervene. The research tools included a differentiation questionnaire (Scorn and Friedlander, 1998) and marital conflict scale (Sanaei-Zaker, 2008). SPSS 23 software and covariance analysis test with repeated measurements and Bonfroni test were used for data analysis.

 The results showed that communication-based therapy could increase discrimination and reduce marital conflict (P <0.0001).

 According to the obtained results, treatment based on communication framework theory can be used to increase differentiation and reduce marital conflicts. Therefore, therapists are recommended to use communication-based therapy to reduce coupleschr('39') problems and increase marital adjustment.