The Comparison of the Effectiveness of Schema-Based Couple Therapy, Emotional Focused Couple Therapy and Acceptance Commitment Couple Therapy on Intimacy Functions of couples on the Brink of Divorce in Military Families

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of schema-based couple therapy, Emotional Focused Couple Therapy and Acceptance Commitment Couple Therapy on Intimacy Functions of couples on the Brink of Divorce in Military Families.

The Research method was quasi -experimental with pretest -posttest follow -up. The statistical population of the study was all couples who referred to one of the counseling centers under the contract of the Armed Forces and the sample included 60 couples. They were randomly selected by convenience sampling with replacement. The particiapnt in schema-based couple therapy participated in the study for 11 sessions, Emotional Focused Couple Therapy for Nine sessions, and the Acceptance Commitment Couple Therapy group participanted in the study for eight sessions. There was not any treatment for the control group . The research questionnaire included Marital Intimacy Questionnaire Bagarozzi. The participnts filled the questionnaire in three stages inclduing the pre-test, the post test and the follow up. Finally, Analysis of variance was done by covariance analysis and repeated measures

The analysis showed that all three methods of couple therapy have significant effect on the Intimacy Functions increase. It also showed that, the highest effectiveness  was for, Emotional Focused Couple Therapy with the effect size of 0.969, for the Schema-Based Couple Therapy 0.966 and for the Acceptance Commitment Couple Therapy 0.939. 

current study can be used in clinical and therapeutic interventions to increase the Intimacy Functions, especailly for the couples on the Brink of Divorce