Extramarital Affairs Referred to Psychologist and Preventive Strategies: Presentation of a Model Based on the Grounded Theory Approach

The aim of the present study is to provide a model of extramarital affairs addressed to South Khorasan province psychologists and to offer strategies to prevent these affairs. This study is applied in terms of of purpose. Considering the need to understand the process of extramarital affairs and to recognize and discover the complexity in it, a qualitative method was used in the research, i.e. grounded theory. The statistical population includes all the counselors who had dealt with extramarital affairs cases in South Khorasan province, including psychologists working for Welfare Organizations, Ministry of Justice, Police, University Birjand Psychologist Center, Ministry of Education and universities of Birjand, Payame Noor and Azad Universities, Seminary and Bonyade Shahid in 2018. 25 psychologists of South Khorasan province with sufficient amount of information about extramarital affairs were selected by purposive sampling technique. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and coded using three stages of open coding, axial coding and selective coding. The results were classified into the following categories: context factors, intervening factors, causal factors and extramarital factors and pattern of extramarital affairs were presented. The results indicated that non-fulfillment of sexual and/or emotional needs forms the axial code in extramarital affairs. Finally, strategies suggested by psychologists to prevent extramarital affairs were categorized and presented. These included therapeutic and counseling strategies, educational strategies, and social and cultural strategies. To ensure the validity and reliability of the data, four methods-including member checking, co-researcher checking, research collaboration, and researcher checking-were used. Based on the findings, efforts should be made to improve intervening or environmental contexts and conditions, and appropriate cultural and social strategies should be formulated to address this important issue