Comparing the Effectiveness of Compassion-Focused Face-to-Face and Compassion-Focused Virtual Reality Therapies for Marital Burnout

The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of compassion-focused face-to-face therapy and compassion-focused virtual reality therapy on marital burnout. It was applied using a quasi-experimental research design with pretest, posttest, follow-up, and control group. The statistical population included all married men of Mobarakeh Steel Company in Isfahan who showed symptoms of marital burnout in 2020. Then, 30 people were selected from them and randomly assigned to three groups: Face-to-Face Therapy, Virtual Reality Therapy, and Control Group (10 people in each group). The research instruments were the Couple Burnout Questionnaire (CBQ) and the face-to-face and virtual reality therapies, which were conducted individually in seven 45-minute sessions. Data analysis was performed using the repeated measures analysis of variance test in SPSS.26 software. The results showed that both therapies lead to a reduction in marital burnout and its components (p < 0.05) and that the effect of face-to-face therapy is greater than that of virtual reality therapy on marital burnout, mental exhaustion and physical exhaustion. For the emotional exhaustion component, both therapies were equally effective. In addition, virtual reality therapy had no significant effect on physical exhaustion (p > 0.05). The results also showed the persistence of both therapies in the follow-up phase. Considering the effectiveness of virtual reality in the therapy of burnout, this technology can be used to treat marital burnout.