The effectiveness of group new reality therapy on couples’ marital conflict

This research was aimed to study the effectiveness of group new reality therapy (based on choice theory) on couples’ conflict and its dimensions. The research was a semi-experimental design with pre-post and follow-up test with control group. The data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate covariance analysis test . The statistical population included the Saman Bank employees and their spouses. The sampling method was convenient. Twenty couples from Saman Bank were volunteered and were randomly replaced in two experimental and control groups. The tool used in this research was Marital Conflict Questionnaire (MCQ) developed by Barati and Sanaie. The intervention consisted of eight three-hours group new reality therapy sessions based on principles of William Glasser institute. The findings revealed that no significant difference between the two mentioned groups in marital conflict in post test stage. However there was a significant difference in two sub-scales: decreased sexual relationship and decreased family relations with their spouse’s relatives and friends. Moreover, in follow up stage there was significant diference between experimental and control in marital conflict and its subscales of decreased marital cooperation, decreased sexual relationship, increased emotional reactions and decreased family relations with their spouse’s relatives and friends. Based on the limitations and findings of this research, it is recommended that number of samples and length of interventions increase significantly. This fact helps the efficiency to be promoted as the time factor showed its vital role in learning and persistency which was revealed in follow-up stage. It is also recomended to use this approach for pre-marital training and counseling.