The Effectiveness of Systemic-Behavioral Couple Therapy on Family Function and Sexual Function of Women with Addicted Spouse

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of SystemicBehavioral Couple Therapy on improving family function and sexual function of women with addicted spouse.

The research method was semiexperimental with pre-test, post-test and a three-month follow-up with control group. The statistical population was 68 women with addicted spouse who referred to the Special Counseling Center for women under the supervision of Sanandaj University of Medical Sciences in 2019. Using the available sampling method, 30 people were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The research tools were Epstein, Baldwin & Bishop (1983) Family Assessment Device and Rosen & Heiman (2000) Women's sexual function questionnaire. And Crowe & Ridley (2000) Systemic-Behavioral Couple Therapy was performed in 10 sessions of 90 minute once a week for the experimental group. data was analyzed by mixed analysis of variance.

The results showed that Systemic-Behavioral Couple Therapy was effective on improving family function (F=1927.378, P= 0.001) and sexual function (F=43.683, P= 0.001) of women with addicted spouses in the post-test phase and this effect remained stable in the follow-up phase.

The Systemic-Behavioral Couple Therapy approach helped women with addicted spouse increase their ability to build effective relationships, dialogue, negotiation, and interaction, thereby improving family function and sexual function.